2025 Hokuryu Fire Drill (Hokuryu Town, Hokkaido) We are grateful to the precious souls of the Hokuryu Fire Brigade members who undergo rigorous training and hard work!

Friday, July 4, 2025

On Friday, June 27th, the Hokuryu Town Hall parking lot held the 2025 Hokuryu Fire Drill. The fire brigade members demonstrated the results of their daily training through parade marches, pump operation, and mock fire drills. The drill was a grand and encouraging event that raised fire awareness in the community, with a cute fire prevention pledge by the children of Yawara Nursery School.

FY2020 Hokuryu fire drill

On Friday, June 27th, from 14:30, the Hokuryu Fire Brigade (Chief Nakayama Shigeyuki) held a fire drill in the parking lot on the north side of the Hokuryu Town Hall. Afterwards, from 17:00, a social gathering was held in the large hall of the Hokuryu Town Community Center.

FY2020 Hokuryu fire drill
FY2020 Hokuryu fire drill

Objective.

The purpose of the festival is to promote close cooperation between the Hokuryu Fire Company Brigades and the Hokuryu Branch Office, to demonstrate the comprehensive firefighting capabilities of the town, and to practice firefighting techniques, thereby raising the morale of firefighters and promoting fire prevention awareness among the local residents.

  • Sponsored by:Fukagawa District Fire Department, Hokuryu Fire Brigade, Fukagawa District Fire Department, Hokuryu Fire Station
  • Sponsorship:Hokuryu Fire Brigade Union Supporters' Association
  • Cooperation:Hokkaido Prefectural Police Asahikawa Area Fukagawa Police Station, Hokuryu Town Traffic Safety Instructor Association, Hokuryu Town Yawara Nursery School
  • Name of participating squad:
    • Fukagawa District Fire Department, Hokuryu Fire Brigade 1st Division
    • Fukagawa District Fire Department, Hokuryu Fire Brigade 2nd Division
    • Fukagawa District Fire Department, Fukagawa Fire Department Hokuryu Branch
  • Venue:Hokuryu Town Hall, north parking lot

Scenes from the exercise

1. Separate procession

The lead vehicle, "Himawari," marched in a line, followed by the commander in chief, the deputy commander, the unit flag, the awards flag, the division flag, 1st division members, and 2nd division members, along with the fire engines, Shiryu, Shinryu, Izumiryu, Kaneryu, and Koryu.

marching in file
marching in file
marching in file
marching in file
Each fire truck marches
Each fire truck marches
report

2. Opening Ceremony

"Fire Prevention Song" and "Fire Prevention Pledge" by children of the Yawara Nursery School Children's Firefighting Club

The kindergarten children, wearing matching happi coats and waving small banners, sing the "Fire Prevention Song"!

"Be careful to lock your doors and be careful of fire.
Do something good once a day
The cute voices of the kindergarten children ring out, "Smile, smile, Sunday!"

Fire prevention song
Fire prevention song

oath of fire prevention

Then came the two preschoolers!

``Kei-rei!'' ``We will never play with fire!'' ``Kei-rei!'' They swore the vow in a loud voice!

oath of fire prevention
oath of fire prevention
With parents watching...
With parents watching...

opening ceremony

Preparation for Opening Ceremony

  • Personnel machinery and equipment inspection report:Each commander ⇒ Deputy commander ⇒ General commander
  • General Manager Instructions:Takashi Ukai Commander in Chief
Members line up
Members line up

Opening remarks: Vice Commander Akinori Fujii

Opening remarks: Vice Commander Akinori Fujii
Opening remarks: Vice Commander Akinori Fujii

Salute to the Flag

Salute to the Flag
Salute to the Flag

Silent prayer for the deceased firefighters

silent prayer
silent prayer

Personnel Report: Takashi Ukai, General Commander

Personnel Report: Takashi Ukai, General Commander
Personnel Report: Takashi Ukai, General Commander

Greetings from the Superintendent General: Yasuhiro Sasaki, Superintendent General (Mayor of Hokuryu Town)

Greetings from the Superintendent General: Yasuhiro Sasaki, Superintendent General (Mayor of Hokuryu Town)
Greetings from the Superintendent General: Yasuhiro Sasaki, Superintendent General (Mayor of Hokuryu Town)

"I am truly pleased that the historic and traditional Hokuryu Fire Drill for 2025 is being held here today with such grandeur, and with the presence of so many distinguished guests.

On the occasion of this glorious fire drill, under the command of Chief Nakayama, the fire brigade members have been making tremendous efforts day and night in their prevention and firefighting work in the local area to protect the lives and property of the townspeople. I would like to express my deepest respect and gratitude to all the members of the fire brigade, and I hope that they will fully demonstrate the results of their daily training and that this drill will be a great success.

Now, this year, large-scale forest fires have occurred one after another all over the country, making firefighting efforts extremely difficult and causing widespread damage.

A large part of Kitaryū Town is covered by forests, and we are constantly living near danger, so we feel that thorough preventive firefighting is more important than anything else in order to prevent disasters from occurring.

Firefighting agencies are being called upon to respond to a variety of situations in line with the times, including not only disasters that occur on a daily basis, but also natural disasters such as earthquakes and storms and floods, vehicle accidents, and emergencies related to civil protection, and expectations of them are growing.

In Kitaryū Town, last year we were working to centralise 119 emergency call reception operations within the Kita Sorachi area and strengthen our response system.

In the event of a disaster, we would like to once again ask all of your team members to utilize modern fire-fighting equipment and the skills they have developed through training to respond quickly and meet the expectations of local residents.

In closing, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the Fire Department Supporters Association and traffic safety instructors who have cooperated with this drill, as well as to the members of the Yawara Nursery School Junior Firefighting Club, who added luster to today's drill. I would also like to extend my best wishes to all the members and to all the distinguished guests in attendance today, and conclude my remarks on this drill," said Superintendent Sasaki.

inspection (o

inspection (o
inspection (o
inspection (o
inspection (o

exercises

1. Discipline training

  • Platoon leader of the Hokuryu Fire Brigade (27 members):Mr. Okunobu Asakura, Squad Leader of the 2nd Division
Members line up
Members line up
discipline
discipline
Marching in unison and with agility
Marching in unison and with agility
Learn to the right
Learn to the right

2. Fire pump operation (water discharge operation)

1st Division

  • Maneuver type:Small pump operation and handheld double-wrapped hose one-line extension
  • Conductor:Masayuki Takada Team Leader
fire pump operation
fire pump operation
Water extraction method
Water extraction method

3.Mock fire drill

  • Date and time:Friday, June 27, 2020, 3:45 p.m.
  • Awareness:119
  • Location:Hokuryu Town Disaster Preparedness Storehouse
  • Weather conditions:Wind direction: southwest, wind speed: 10m/s, humidity: 45%

Procedure

The Fukagawa Fire Department Communications Command Center received a report of a fire from the Hokuryu Town Disaster Preparedness Storehouse via 119. After receiving the order to mobilize, the Hokuryu Branch Police Station Communications Commander immediately sounded the siren and ordered the fire brigade and branch police vehicles to mobilize.

  1. The dispatch command is given by siren (near-fire signal).
  2. The dispatched vehicle will run with its red revolving lights on and siren blaring.
  3. Vehicle speeds should be less than the general legal speed limit.
  4. The fire scene is indicated by smoke bombs.
  5. Traffic control is conducted by police officers and traffic instructors.
  6. The commander in chief will give the order to stop spraying water over the radio.

     

simulated fire drill
simulated fire drill
simulated fire drill
simulated fire drill

4. Simultaneous water spraying

  1. Use one hose only.
  2. The nozzle is a spray nozzle.
  3. The commander in chief will give instructions over the radio to start and stop spraying.

Training completed.

simultaneous discharge of water
simultaneous discharge of water
Training End
Training End
Alignment
Alignment

closing ceremony

Comments from the Director: Shigeyuki Nakayama, Director

Comments from the Director: Shigeyuki Nakayama, Director
Comments from the Director: Shigeyuki Nakayama, Director

"I would like to thank all the guests for staying to watch today's comprehensive exercise until the very end.

I believe that all members of the team fully demonstrated the results of their daily training and achieved the expected results.

I also believe that today's exercise was highly effective in helping the participants acquire skills to respond to disasters and improve mutual cooperation.

We, the members of the fire brigade, are determined to use this exercise as an opportunity to further work hard and respond to the expectations of local residents as the closest disaster prevention organization, and to face any disasters that may arise.

In closing, I hope that Hokuryu Town will become a disaster-free, bright, and livable town, and I ask all of our distinguished guests to continue to provide us with guidance in the future. That's it! said General Superintendent Shigeyuki Nakayama.

congratulatory address by guest of honor

Chairman Naokazu Nakamura, Hokuryu Town Council

Congratulatory speech by guest of honor: Mr. Shoichi Nakamura, Chairman of the Hokuryu Town Council
Congratulatory speech by guest of honor: Mr. Shoichi Nakamura, Chairman of the Hokuryu Town Council

"I have been appointed to speak today, so I would like to say a few words. Although there was some concern about rain this morning, we were blessed with good weather, and I would like to offer my sincere congratulations on the successful holding of the Hokuryu Fire Drill 2025, which has concluded safely. I offer my heartfelt congratulations.

I would like to express my respect and gratitude to all the members of the fire brigade for being aware of their responsibilities as members of the brigade on a daily basis, and for having undergone advance training and been deployed today despite your busy schedules.

I believe that each of the series of training exercises today produced satisfactory results. However, given the personnel situation, the training sessions have been scaled down slightly, which is a little disappointing, but considering the actual situation, I believe it is inevitable.

In particular, in terms of discipline training, we were unable to conduct the traditional company training of the Hokuryu Fire Brigade, but we did have platoon training, and it was the first time in a long time that a platoon of 27 members of the Hokuryu Fire Brigade had done so. It was a very unified training, and I was very moved by the sound of the 27 members' footsteps, which were unified and loud. Thank you very much for your hard work.

We would also like to express our gratitude to the Yawara Nursery School children's Junior Fire Department Club for having been continued for so many years, and to the nursery school teachers for their continued guidance.

I believe it is extremely important and beneficial to instill awareness of fire safety from an early age.

We would like to ask for your continued guidance, especially from parents and guardians.

The weather this year has not been very good since early spring, and although it is still only June, we have already seen several days of midsummer temperatures.

Agricultural crops, especially rice, appear to be growing well, and we are looking forward to a good harvest this autumn.

However, I have heard that there is a tendency for drought to occur across the country, and there are some concerns about water in our town as well, so we are hoping for moderate weather and rainfall in the future.

As the Superintendent-General mentioned at the beginning of the year, forest fires have broken out both at home and abroad since the beginning of the year. Forest fires can take a long time to extinguish, due in part to the difficulty of securing water resources for firefighting.

Our town has had forest fires in the past, although they were small scale. I hope that such fires will not occur in the future. I also hope that we will avoid house fires or natural disasters such as earthquakes, strong winds, and heavy rains. In the unlikely event that a fire does occur, I hope that you will all work hard to keep the damage to a minimum.

We hope that in the future, in addition to the members' continued hard work and diligent training on a daily basis, we will also continue to educate the townspeople about fire and disaster prevention, so that the town will remain safe and secure, free from fires and disasters.

"In closing, I wish the Hokuryu Fire Brigade continued success, and I wish good health and happiness to all the members and everyone participating today, and I would like to offer my congratulations. Congratulations to everyone today," said Chairman Nakamura.

Members lined up in an orderly fashion
Members lined up in an orderly fashion

Hokkaido Prefectural Police Asahikawa District Fukagawa Police Station Chief Muneharu Yoneda
(Read by Seiji Oshima, Chief of Numata Police Station, Fukagawa Police Station)

Mr. Seiji Oshima, Chief of the Numata Police Station, Fukagawa Police Station
Mr. Seiji Oshima, Chief of the Numata Police Station, Fukagawa Police Station

"My name is Oshima, and I am the chief of the Numata Police Station and Fukagawa Police Station. Normally, the Fukagawa Police Station chief would be the one to give the greeting, but unfortunately he is unable to attend due to commitments, so I will deliver the congratulatory speech in his place.

I would like to offer my heartfelt congratulations on the successful holding of the Hokuryu Fire Drill here today. I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to all of you for your continued understanding and cooperation in all aspects of police administration.

The Kitaryu Fire Brigade has a glorious tradition and history, and as the core of local disaster prevention, you work hard at your noble duty of protecting the lives, bodies and property of residents from fire and disaster with a deep spirit of local love and a strong sense of responsibility, in addition to your busy main duties.I would like to express my deepest respect for your hard work.

Also, just now, under the command of the Commander-in-Chief, we conducted formation marching, discipline training, fire pump operation, mock fire training, and simultaneous water spraying, and I was impressed by your high morale and your dignified, disciplined and brave appearance, which I felt was truly reliable and powerful.

As you mentioned, large-scale natural disasters and forest fires have occurred across the country in recent years, and in the Fukagawa Police Station jurisdiction, rainfall caused rivers to overflow in July of last year, causing flooding in nearby areas.

We are concerned that you will be faced with an increasing number of difficult activities, such as firefighting and rescue operations at disaster sites, in the future.

I ask that you all continue to maintain high morale, strive to further improve your skills, and live up to the expectations and trust of the local residents.

In order to fulfill our responsibility to protect the lives, bodies, and property of local residents, we at the police force will continue to work closely with you on a daily basis and make further efforts to ensure safety and security.

In closing, I would like to offer my best wishes and congratulations to the members of the fire brigade, all those involved in the fire department, and everyone in attendance today.
Congratulations on your graduation today," he said.

Salute to the Flag

Salute to the Flag
Salute to the Flag

Saluting the Commander in Chief: Commander in Chief Takashi Ukai

Saluting the Commander in Chief: Commander in Chief Takashi Ukai
Saluting the Commander in Chief: Commander in Chief Takashi Ukai
End of exercise
End of exercise
Thank you for your hard work!
Thank you for your hard work!

Afterwards, a reception was held in the main hall on the second floor of the Hokuryu-cho Community Center.

Their smiles are the best! With gratitude to the female members!!!
Their smiles are the best! With gratitude to the female members!!!

With boundless love, gratitude, and prayers for the precious souls of the Hokuryu firefighters, who go through rigorous training and hard work to protect the safety and security of the town's residents and their lives.

With gratitude to the great Hokuryu Fire Brigade...
With gratitude to the great Hokuryu Fire Brigade...

FY2025 Hokuryu Firefighting Exercise Plan

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