Info on Tokyo Fire Dept radios?

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zerg901

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Does anyone have any information about the current radio systems used by the Tokyo Fire Department? Do the volunteers use the same radio channels as the paid firefighters?

There is some 2011 / 2013 info here - Japan Police, Fire, Ambulance Radios? - which seems to be reflected in the RRDB at - Tokyo-to - Tokyo Metropolitan Government Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference

I put together a map of Tokyo fire stations at
https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1Sedmq1BucK5nj-OO-jslKUyNcC8&usp=sharing

The map now has a VOL (volunteer) layer and a PAID layer - plus the earlier combined layer

Map still needs more work - it will be a never ending job to keep this map relevant

The vol layer has 710 entries - paid layer has 316 entries - (some are old stations - some are duplicate entries)

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Here is a very brief overview of Tokyo FD

- 2 dispatch centers - EAST (downtown / '23 wards') - and - WEST (Tama)

- approx 300 paid stations - 200 are "branch" stations that have 2 pumpers and 1 ambulance each - 100 are battalion HQs (they call them "fire stations") - the batt HQs typically have 2 pumpers, 1 ladder, 1 ambulance, and 1 battalion chiefs van each - ambulances have crews of 3 people - fire trucks have crews of 4 people

- approx 700 volunteer stations - the eastern volunteer stations have mini pumpers or hand drawn carts with portable pumps and hose (even in downtown) - the western volunteer stations have minipumpers (some are in the mountains) - (possibly the eastern volunteer stations only respond to disasters - typically typhoons or earthquakes)

Every paid pumper has a built in hand drawn hose cart - many streets are very narrow - many neighborhoods seem to have only cisterns (no hydrants)
 

ko6jw_2

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A few random thoughts.

Scanners seem not to be sold in Japan. In 2018 I visited four radio stores in the Akihabara district of Tokyo and saw no scanners. Also no Baofengs etc.

There are some excellent YouTube videos of Tokyo fire department responses and some department produced PR videos (in English).

I have seen the hose carts you mention. Hydrants are not used in Tokyo (and in some European countries). The "hydrants" are carried on the fire engines and attached to valves under the street or sidewalk. No chance of freezing or being knocked over.

Fire engines and ambulances, in addition to sirens, use PA systems to announce their intentions. "Fire engine is turning right!" Some of these announcements are tied to the turn signals. Officers can also make announcements. Traffic is extremely congested in Tokyo.

Tokyo has a lot of specialist apparatus. The department produced videos on YouTube showcase them.

There is a fire department museum. I intend to visit it next time I'm in Tokyo.
 

zerg901

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let me toss in a couple of updates

The volunteer stations are almost all identical in general size and shape. 2 floors - 1 bay door - approx 15 feet by 15 feet - square - some have hose towers or watch towers - some have horns or sirens or public address system speakers

I dont think that the volunteer firefighters are trained or equipped to do interior firefighting - I dont think they have breathing apparatus (BA) / self contained BA (SCBA) nor structural fire jackets

Google Maps - this shows one of the volunteer miniEngines and the volunteer firefighters - they almost all look like offduty paid firefighters - this station is under a bridge overpass near Tokyo Harbor

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at Google Maps - photos of volunteers and vehicles

志村消防団第4分団 分団本部

志村消防団第八分団第三部 防災資機材格納庫

click on photo at upper left to see all photos - there are arrows at
bottom of right side photos also that will come up

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I updated the Zerg90 map last night - found about 50 more volunteer stations - should have 97% of them now (he said hopefully)

Tokyo does have hydrants and cisterns - probably 95% are underground - hydrants have water under pressure - cisterns are just a tank of water in the ground - iirc I have seen a picture of an above ground hydrant - actually - it was way up in the mountains in the western part of the city - at some homes on the side of a cliff - iirc Tokyo FD only has 2 water carrier / tanker trucks - probably because the streets are much too narrow to support them where they are most needed

I have seen reference to either UHF or 400 Mhz portable radios used by the volunteers - iirc they have 2 of these radios at each volunteer station - iirc I saw that into in an English document on the Tokyo FD website that was explaining the equipment used by the volunteers
 
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zerg901

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Google Maps - found a small volunteer station with the door open - looks like Larry The Cable Guy is there installing something - cardboard box says "DHQ" - many of the vol stations have small satellite dishes - many have yagi antennas also - all have a little red light - this one has AED and pump cart
 

zerg901

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sorry - I got several things wrong in my earlier post - the correct info is - 2016 - Tokyo FD moved from 150 Mhz analog to 260/270 Mhz TDMA


● Specifications for moving TDMA digital radios
itemstandard
frequencyTransmission: 262 to 266 MHz
Reception: 271-275 MHz
Frequency for direct communicationSimple communication: 262.0375 to 262.4375MHz
Frequency interval25kHz
Modulation methodπ / 4 shift QPSK method
Communication control methodTDMA method
Transmission speed32 kbps (4ch) / 8 kbps (1ch)
Voice codecAMBE +
 

vagrant

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Oh wow that is a bell. I wonder if they use that now for the nighttime fire warnings instead of making rounds in that area of Hino, or probably if the power goes out more likely. I heard the warnings at night more often in Kyoto near Kitano-Temmangu then I ever did in Adachi-Ku (Tokyo). I lived in Japan for about a year before knowing what the warnings were. It wasn't until I was dating a woman that I asked, as they happen to be down on the street walking by clacking the hyoshigi.
 

zerg901

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Update - added more volunteer stations to zerg90 map - mostly in western areas - even up into the mountains -

the volunteers appear to have 3 forms of equipment - small pumper + tiny 4 door pickup truck with portable pump + hand drawn portable pumps

99% of the volunteer stations have 2 floors and 1 rollup bay door - most have sirens or emergency public address loudspeakers

eastern volunteer stations are administered by the Tokyo FD - western volunteer stations are administered by the citys and towns and villages

Tokyo is more like a state or a county than a city - Tokyo FD covers an area administered by approx 30 citys and 10 villages - so I guess its more like a "county" in USA terms - Wikipedia says that Tokyo is officially a "metropolis" iirc

I am not sure which volunteers have SCBA / breathing apparatus - possibly only in the mountain areas where there are only 2 paid stations

There is only one phone number to report fire and medical emergencys. It is 119. So - somehow - the volunteers and paid stations are all merged in to one dispatch system. And I have seen that the volunteer fire trucks have upgraded to digital radios in at least 1 of the cities. So I am going to guess that the paid fire stations and the volunteer fire statins share a radio system.
 

lwvmobile

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Fire engines and ambulances, in addition to sirens, use PA systems to announce their intentions. "Fire engine is turning right!" Some of these announcements are tied to the turn signals. Officers can also make announcements. Traffic is extremely congested in Tokyo.

Pretty late to the party, but I just stumbled upon this thread and was intrigued, and looked over the twitter for the Yokohama and another from Yamamoto I believe, and found some clips of this in action. You can hear what sounds like an automated message from a female announcer at the intersections, and the male officer announcing his intentions over the PA on the vehicle. Its really hard to make out though with the road noise and especially the sirens, but I do hear the phrase "mairimasu" quite often, which is them indicating that they are en-route to a place, and I think 'sagate' telling them to step back or move out of the way. Really hard to make out, but literally almost the same types of directions you would hear at a train station.
 
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