No.64 Establishment of the Fire Branch Office

Inagi Newsletter March 15, 2017 Edition

The Branch Office of the fire department completed in the Kamihirao area has been in temporary operation since February 1, 2017, and will officially start full operation from April 1, 2017.
The city has faced difficult issues regarding fire station facilities for some time. One issue is that the Hirao and Sakahama areas in the southwestern part of the city are far from the fire station, resulting in delays in the arrival of emergency vehicles. Another issue is that, due to the city's expansion and the increase in population and number of buildings, the number of fire personnel has been gradually increased, but the space for offices and rest rooms was nearing its limit.
The development of branch offices and other facilities for the fire department was included in the Inagi City Third Long-Term Comprehensive Plan (from 2001 to 2010), but it was postponed due to difficulties in securing land and financial resources.
Since taking office as Mayor in 2011, I have been working on this issue, but I was unable to reach a solution during my first term.
During this time, I also considered partial expansions of the fire station, but due to amendments and strict enforcement of the Building Standards Act, it was determined that the current building was non-compliant, making expansion difficult.
In this context, in August 2013, I received a recommendation from the Inagi City Fire Committee to promptly begin construction of a fire branch, suggesting that the Kamihirao area was suitable as a candidate site.
In my second term election pledge, I made the construction of the branch office one of my top priorities, negotiating to secure a site through land readjustment methods involving land owned by the Inagi City Land Development Corporation and Tokyo Metropolitan Government within the Kamihirao Land Readjustment Project area, and with the cooperation of the Kamihirao Land Readjustment Association, I was able to secure a site of 1,380 square meters.

By the way, there are statistics indicating that the average time for emergency vehicles to arrive in the city is about 6 minutes from the call to 119 until arrival at the scene, but in the Hirao area, it exceeded 10 minutes. With the securing of land in Kamihirao this time, we were able to draw two circles with a radius of 6 minutes required for emergency vehicle arrival, centered on the main fire station and the Branch Office, which now covers almost all areas of the city.
The facility overview of the Branch Office is a three-story steel-reinforced concrete structure with a building area of approximately 430 square meters and a total floor area of about 1,107 square meters. To ensure independent operation even in the event of a large-scale disaster when external power is lost, it is equipped with a self-generating power system capable of continuous operation for 72 hours with a 950-liter tank, a private refueling facility with 10,000 liters of gasoline and 5,000 liters of light oil, and 10-kilowatt solar panels.
Additionally, the city has not had a permanent fire training facility until now, but we have also established a training building made of reinforced concrete, three stories high, with a building area of about 25 square meters and a total floor area of approximately 75 square meters, which we expect to be utilized by fire personnel and volunteer firefighters.
Furthermore, to be utilized by citizens, we have also set up a disaster prevention classroom space of about 69 square meters.
We are planning a completion ceremony and facility tour at the Branch Office, and we look forward to welcoming many visitors (refer to Inagi Newsletter March 15 issue, page 1).
With the completion of the Branch Office, we will continue to strive to prepare for large-scale disasters.