As part of Staff Capacity Enhancement Program, the Tokyo Fire Department (TFD) holds Rescue Technique Training Course, targeting ANMC21 member cities each year. This training course aims to develop leaders of rescue techniques in each ANMC21 member cities, and to improve fire fighting and rescue techniques that respond to the actual conditions of each city.
Please enjoy a report on the training program from the TFD staff who participated in this program in Bangkok.

This training course was comprised of two sessions: the first session took place in Tokyo, and the second one was carried out in Bangkok.
In the first session, six trainees from the Bangkok Fire and Rescue Department came to Tokyo in November 2012 for the purpose of acquiring TFD's fire fighting techniques. The leader and members of the TFD Fire Rescue Task Forces, who work actively as experts in firefighting, took part in the training as the instructors. The trainees mastered the practical rescue techniques, which are actually used at the TFD, for two weeks. After that, they returned to Bangkok and improved their technique at the Bangkok Fire and Rescue Department. Then, we, the members of the TFD visited Bangkok for three weeks from February 18, 2013. The training was carried out to further deepen the understanding of the firefighting techniques that the trainees learned and acquired in Tokyo in November 2012. A total of five TFD officials including the leader and members of the Fire Rescue Task Forces, who've given instruction in Tokyo, as well as the members of the Fire Suppression Division, who usually instruct firefighters and rescue units of the TFD, gathered in Bangkok.

The training took place at Rachapracha Training Center in Nakhon Ratchasima Province in the eastern part of Thailand, which is located about 200 km away from Bangkok. The training was carried out in the comfortable conditions for early summer in Thailand.

The training program had to be changed in some occasions after arriving at the training center and checking the training facility, materials and equipment. In such an event, however, we took the effective measure as much as possible using the materials and changed the program flexibly, in the same manner when we are dispatched to the actual disaster site.

The training started with getting up early in the morning at 5:00 a.m. All the trainees gathered at 5:30 a.m. and started running. At 8:00 a.m., they sang the national anthem. The training was carried out from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. After the whole program of the day was over, the trainees and instructors got together to make sure of the contents of training for the following day and exchanged opinions every day. We sometimes talked longer than they had scheduled and thoroughly discussed and coordinated, for instance to learn about each others' rescue tactics and skills.

The trainees were comprised of 40 members carefully selected from eight fire stations of the Bangkok Fire and Rescue Department. Many of them expressed their ambition to acquire TFD’s rescue techniques; some of them took videos when the instructors gave explanations or silently concentrated on the training using ropes during the break. The Japanese instruction methods that were adopted in the previous training in Tokyo, for instance waiting in line at the designated time, were firmly established among the trainees.

During the training period, the trainees and instructors had difficulty in communication in some occasions because of the different lifestyles and customs as well as technical terms. We, however, were all firefighters and could communicate with each other, for example by drawing a picture to make ourselves understood. On the final day, the trainees earnestly took part in the training with high morale, showing successful results of the daily training. In addition, one of the trainees studied Japanese by himself and taught us the names of the food in front of us and other Thai words that we use in our daily life at the dinner, having a notebook that he made by hand. Many Thai people were kind, and we could actually experience "the country of smiles, Thailand."

After the training completion ceremony, one of the trainees remarked, "Thai people smile all the time, but we could not smile at all during the training because it was very hard. But I would like to express my gratitude to the instructors." We felt that the trainees understood the attitude of the TFD toward the activities in the field where we have responsibility to protect people's lives.

In the future, we expect that the trainees who completed this training course, will explore effective firefighting techniques and offer technical assistance to other personnel as leaders, aiming at enhancing the firefighting techniques of the Bangkok Fire and Rescue Department.