Tokyo Fire Department

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Barrett
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Tokyo Fire Department

#1

Post by Barrett » 20 Nov 2007, 19:00

I've searched this and other sites hoping to find something of the strength and composition of the Tokyo Fire Dept. c. 1944-45. If anyone is aware of an online source, I'd surely appreciate any leads. It's surprisingly difficult to find much data. (The New York annual report for '45 does not even list total manpower.) The fire chief is cited in some accounts (he had a VERY busy night 9-10 March '45) but his name is never mentioned.

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Sewer King
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Re: Tokyo Fire Department

#2

Post by Sewer King » 09 Apr 2008, 05:56

This book, Fire and the Air War, edited by Horatio Bond, Chief Engineer NFPA (Boston: National Fire Protection Association, 1946; 262 pages) is a study of urban fire damage from air raids against Britain, Germany, and Japan. The NFPA had contributed to the US Strategic Bombing Survey (USSBS) from this time.

The book includes a good, well-illustrated 48-page chapter of Japanese firefighting history, organization, equipment and wartime experience, not including a separate study of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This is an excerpt of only what you asked for -- from page 152:
Wartime Measures.

As the Allied forces moved closer to the Japanese home islands an intensive program was initiated by the Ministry of Home Affairs to increase the size of fire departments, and to establish new departments in certain industrial cities which had been dependent on volunteer fire departments for their protection. Men were recruited so rapidly that proper training was not possible. Peacetime fire departments were increased from three to five times their normal size. Tokyo's department was enlarged from 2,000 firemen to 8,100 men, including 2,700 junior firemen. An effort was made to increase it to 12,500, but the man-power shortage in Japan made it prohibitive. In October 1945, there were 6,657 members left in the department. The metropolitan district of Tokyo, an area of 213 square miles in October 1940, had a population of over seven-and-a-half million people. Just five years later [this] had been reduced to five-and-a-half million.
And from pages 155-57:
Stations and Apparatus.

The large cities of Japan were divided into Fire Divisions, and subdivided into Battalions and Fire Stations. In Tokyo, at the peak of the war there were 12 divisions, 44 battalion districts, and 287 fire stations. A total of 100 fire stations and 186 fire trucks were destroyed during the war. Most of those burned during the attacks of 10 March and 25 May 1945.

In 1943, the Tokyo department had 280 pieces of fire apparatus, in early 1945 it had 1,117 pieces. Tokyo received most of the new fire apparatus built during the war. It purchased 559 new 450-GPM pumpers, which by the way, were the largest pumps in the entire country, except a few early 1920 American-LaFrance 750-GPM rigs. The cities increased the size of their departments by borrowing pumpers from nearby volunteer fire departments in rural communities. Unfortunately for the rural districts there were very few pumps to return after the war. Much of the apparatus acquired from rural communities were hand-drawn 120-GPM gasoline-driven pumps.

The standard appliances and tools carried on their so-called large equipment in their high-value districts consisted of the following: 1 four-pound ax, 2 twelve-foot ladders, 2 pike poles, 2 four-foot crowbars, 1 eighteen-foot length of 1-inch rope, 1 fifty-foot length of 1 1/2 inch rope, 2 smoke masks (canister type), 3 spare nozzles (1/2-inch, 3/8-inch, and 3/4-inch), 40 sections of 2 1/2-inch single-jacketed linen hose, and two hose carts.

There were only four aerial ladders in Japan; three in Tokyo and one in Kyoto. Only one, however, of the Tokyo ladder trucks, a Magirus (German) 85-foot extention, was in service. The two Japanese-built 100-foot aerials had defective turntables and the motors were in need of repair. These trucks were equipped with 500-GPM pumps, but carried practically no apparatus or tools.

The marine section of fire departments in seaport cities was negligible by comparison with American standards for harbor fire protection. Tokyo, with its estimated 100 miles of waterfront, including the harbor area proper and the canal system and rivers, had three small 500-GPM boats in service in 1942. This number was increased early in 1945 by eight new navy-type patrol boats equipped with 500-GPM single-stage centrifugal pumps, powered by four-cylinder gas-kerosene engines. The fire boats produced the largest fire streams of any apparatus in Japan -- 1 1/8 inches.

Fire apparatus, appliances, and special tools so common in fire departments of American cities were conspicuous by their absence in Japanese fire departments. Special mobile rigs and companies, such as salvage, light, CO2, foam, rescue, demolition, airfield crash rigs, and even water tanks with booster pumps were never a part of their fire departments. The common portable fire extinguisher of the CO2, carbon tetrachloride, foam, and water pump can types were not used by Japanese firemen.

The shortage of skilled mechanics plus the lack of replacement parts accounted for an average of 20 per cent of fire apparatus being out of service in 1944 and 1945. The fire equipment generally was in a poor state of repair, and in all cities observed except Kyoto, fire apparatus was hand-cranked. No standby apparatus was available for temporary use while equipment was out of service.

Prior to the March, 1945, air raids all fire departments except that of Tokyo were restricted to a two-hour gasoline supply for each pumper. During the 14 March air raid over Osaka, 48 pieces of fire equipment were destroyed for lack of fuel to move them out of the path of flame. After this disastrous experience, the transportation department increased the supply to five hours for each pumper. An effort was made to refuel fire equipment during fires, but firemen hauling gasoline in drums were unable to locate fire apparatus due to the smoke and obstructed streets, and consequently fire apparatus was abandoned as fires closed in, leaving no avenues of retreat.

The auxiliary police and fire units of Japan is a subject within itself ... the police exercised over-all supervision of the auxiliary police and fire units. Auxiliary firemen constituted about 40 per cent of the auxiliary police and fire units. The leaders of the auxiliary firemen received additional training at their nearest battalion headquarters fire station. Those ... interested in this ... may read a complete account of this organization along with the description of the Japanese fire services in the USSBS Civilian Defense Division report ... printed by the War Department.
Further description follows of the fire alarm system, firemens' training, mutual aid arrangements, water supply, creation of fire breaks, firefighting under attack, and a general history of firefighting in Imperial Japan. There are many photos of reservoirs and street cisterns, old equipment and modern as available, inflammable and fire-resistant construction, watchtowers and alarms, etc. To give a sense of Japanese firemen in action, along with their traditions and spirit, historical artwork is also used for illustration.

I may be able to scan some of these photos if you are still interested. Have you looked into the USSBS itself? I thought there were some links in the research forums ...

-- Alan
Last edited by Sewer King on 12 Apr 2008, 00:40, edited 1 time in total.


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Barrett
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Re: Tokyo Fire Department

#3

Post by Barrett » 09 Apr 2008, 19:24

Alan, MANY THANKS. That's exceptionally detailed info.
I have looked at the various USSBS sites and found nothing on civil defense other than indexes to microfilm rolls. My bound copy only addresses naval aspects of the Pacific war.
Will let you know if I can use more info but this should be more than adequate.

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