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CAMP ZAMA, Japan – Members of the U.S. Army Garrison Japan fire department recently received awards in an Army fire and emergency services competition for their efforts last year.
The department, which has more than 140 firefighters across eight fire stations, was named the best large fire department in U.S. Army Installation Management Command–Pacific for the sixth year in a row. It also earned awards for the top dispatcher in the Army and for the best fire service instructor in the region.
“We have a winning team of Japanese fire professionals,” said Regional Fire Chief Frank Wombwell, who heads the department. “We set high standards for them and we coach, train and mentor them in emergency response and fire prevention.”
Yoshikazu Ito, lead dispatcher at Camp Zama, was named the dispatcher of the year for the entire Army last week after previously winning at the IMCOM level.
Ito’s bilingual capabilities helped the department reach 100% compliance on aggregate response times to fully meet Army fire and emergency services performance standards, according to his leadership.
“Every second counts,” Ito said, adding that firefighters must be able to respond within seven minutes to anywhere on Camp Zama and Sagamihara Family Housing Area. “It’s a lot of pressure and stress.”
Ito, who has worked at fire departments for over 30 years, and most of that time at Camp Zama, also maintained vehicle fleet inventory and utilization data, maintenance records, and completed an IMCOM-tasked operation readiness report for firefighting apparatus.
In addition, he helped develop the department’s 911 dispatcher guide to improve questions to callers for 40 specific emergency situations, his leadership noted.
“I have never received such a big honor before,” Ito said about the recognition. “I’m very proud to be part of the team here. This award goes to all of the members of the fire department, because I couldn’t have gotten it without their support.”
Masatoshi Sugiyama, training captain for the department, was named IMCOM-Pacific’s fire service instructor of the year.
“I feel very honored to receive this award,” Sugiyama said. “I would like to thank my co-workers and supervisors for their support. Everyone on the team has been very supportive.”
Sugiyama, who has served at Camp Zama for 17 years, was essential in the department’s all-hazards training program, which included nearly 3,000 classes totaling more than 21,000 training hours, and had 139 certificates issued, his leadership said.
Training included an array of topics from basic firefighter skills, earthquake disaster drills and hazardous materials awareness to urban search and rescue techniques.
“Firefighters wouldn’t be able to provide [emergency response] services without that training,” he said. “So that’s why it’s very important to provide training to them.”
Last year, the fire department successfully mitigated over 600 all-hazards incidents. In one of the incidents, firefighters performed care and a high-angle rescue from a three-story rooftop for an unresponsive patient who had attempted suicide, leaders said.
In addition, the department executed over 190 facility evacuation drills, reaching more than 21,200 community members. It also held monthly and quarterly fire safety training classes for about 430 assigned personnel.
A live-fire training building was also upgraded as the department added 12 new live-fire instructors to further enhance training opportunities, leaders said.
“It feels great for the fire department to be recognized for best large fire department in the Pacific region,” Wombwell said. “It reflects the hard work our fire professionals do every day in support of the garrison and country of Japan.”
