The Tokyo Fire Department (Japanese: æ±京æ¶Âé²åºÂ, Hepburn: Tà Âkyà  Shà Âbà Âchà Â) is the fire department of Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. Formed in 1948 during the post-war reorganisation of Japan's government, the TFD is today the largest fire department in Japan by number of firefighters, operating out of their headquarters in the à Âtemachi District of Chiyoda Ward and their 292 fire stations, sub-stations, and branch stations spread across the prefecture. The TFD is often cited as the largest fire department in the world by number of staff, outnumbering comparable departments such as the New York City Fire Department or the Paris Fire Brigade.
In the 2024 financial year, the TFD received 1,095,531 emergency 119 calls, and responded to 4,330 fires (a 9.5% increase on the previous year; 70% of these were building fires), 918,311 calls for emergency medical services, 28,155 technical rescue operations, and 6,418 other calls for assistance, including 2,162 hazardous materials incidents, 1,163 calls to assist police, and 584 animal rescue callouts. The year also saw the TFD process 43,033 building fire safety plan applications and 3,842 submissions related to hazardous materials licensing, as well as delivering 36,360 fire safety inspections and hosting 10,397 fire safety events with over 1,073,817 participants.
Firefighting in Tokyo presents several unique challenges; demand for emergency medical services has been rising rapidly across the metropolis as a result of Japan's aging population, necessitating an increased focus on ambulance provision and the introduction of diversion services, such as consultation hotlines, to ease pressures on emergency medical systems. Climate change has also increased the work of the TFD, as hotter summers lead to an increase in medical emergencies, and more frequent severe weather events increase the demand for rescue work both within Tokyo and across Japan (where the TFD is often dispatched to support smaller municipal fire departments due to its increased size and capabilities). Finally, the expected threat of a Nankai megathrust earthquake in the near-future necessitates intensive disaster preparedness work and the maintenance of surplus resources and staff to meet the anticipated damage of such an event.
The first fire brigades in Edo (the previous name for Tokyo) were known as hikeshi (ç«æ¶Â); initially, the first hikeshi were made up of samurai loyal to feudal lords or daimyà Â, who were required to keep a residence in Edo, but in 1657, the Great Fire of Meireki ripped through Edo destroying 60-70% of the city and killing over 100,000 people, with the local daimyà  bikeshi brigades too undermanned, underequipped, and inexperienced to deal with such a large fire. This failure of fire control represented a severe threat to the authority of the ruling military shogunate, and so one year later the jà  bikeshi (å®Âç«æ¶Â) was established as a full-time brigade made up of hatamoto samurai directly under the command of the shogun. This brigade was mainly concerned with the protection of the shogun's properties, such as Edo Castle, however did cooperate with the daimyà  bikeshi to deal with fires in common areas, so as to not let them spread.
By the time the Meiji era emerged, most firefighting across Tokyo was undertaken by local volunteers in brigades called machi bikeshi, and the number of samurai firefighters had dropped significantly. As a result of reforms in the 1880s following the Meiji restoration, the career fire brigades were absorbed into the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, whereas the volunteer firefighters were reorganised into groups known as shà Âbà  gumi (æ¶Âé²çµÂ) under the control of the governor of the new Tokyo Prefecture.
In 1945, towards the end of the Pacific War, Tokyo was firebombed heavily due to its role as the capital of Japan; the number of casualties from the series of napalm bombing raids is disputed, but most estimates place it around 100,000 deaths.
Following the end of the war, firefighting in Japan was reorganised, creating the modern municipal fire department system; as a result, the Tokyo Fire Department was created in 1948.
In 2019, during the response to Typhoon Hagibis, an elderly woman being rescued died when she fell from a rescue hoist of a TFD helicopter because the rescuers had failed to properly secure her. The two air rescue personnel involved in the incident were officially reprimanded, but were not fired and did not face criminal or civil penalties.
The TFD's stations are assisted in providing frontline and public-facing services by the fire department headquarters which is responsible for the development of policy and procedure via its departments and sections:
The TFD is one of the few departments in Japan which directly maintains an aviation unit, as opposed to one being provided by the prefecture. The unit, operating out of two bases in Central and Western Tokyo respectively, commenced operations in 1967 and has primary used French-manufactured firefighting helicopters from Eurocopter and Aérospatiale. The unit delivers multiple competencies, including aerial firefighting against both wildfires and, uniquely, against high-rise building fires, air ambulance services (including a capability to provide a doctor-led Helicopter Emergency Medical Service or HEMS) especially aeromedical evacuation of patients from the Tokyo Islands to the mainland, search and rescue, heavy lifting of rescue equipment to remote areas, and aerial intelligence gathering.
For major disasters, the TFD maintains a Quick Reaction Force (Japanese: å³å¿Â対å¦é¨éÂÂ, Hepburn: Sokuà  taisho butai) under its headquarters; the force is designed to provide a rapid response and assessment capability for major disasters such as earthquake and tsunami, specialising in gaining access to areas made inaccessible by debris, mudslides, or liquefaction. Consisting of an Intelligence Unit to assess the incident ground and a Rescue Unit to perform snatch rescues, the force makes particular use of specialised all-terrain fire appliances, video drones, and watercraft.
Uniquely, the TFD maintains a specialist ambulance group directly under its headquarters, the Mobility Ambulance Task Force (Japanese: æÂÂæÂ¥æ©ÂÃ¥ÂÂé¨éÂÂ, Hepburn: Kyà «kyà « kidà  butai) which specialises in the response to mass casualty incidents, patients with infectious diseases, bariatric transport, and response to patients who do not speak Japanese. The unit consists of 3 normal high-standard ambulances and 1 negative-pressure ambulance for transporting infectious patients, as well as carrying bariatric stretchers and lifting equipment. The teams are based out of stand-by locations in the community for rapid response; during the day, they are split between Tokyo Station and the residential Setagaya district, whereas at night they are split between the nightlife districts of Roppongi and Shinjuku.
As is typical for Japanese fire departments, the TFD is divided up into several stations, which provide services to a wide area, with subordinate branch stations which are simple emergency response posts in the Western sense; however, the TFD is also the only municipal fire department in Japan to group their stations into formal districts with district headquarters, as a result of the size and heterogeneity of the area covered by the department which is not found in any other jurisdiction in the country. As is typical, each station is its own self-defined command structure with multiple divisions and sections, including both operational crews and office-based units such as fire prevention, community liaison, and general affairs. Each district headquarters also has Guidance Sections (æÂÂå°Âä¿Â), Firefighting Equipment Sections (è¦é²裠åÂÂä¿Â), Training Sections (è¨Âç·´ä¿Â), and Disaster Prevention Sections (é²ç½ä¿Â).
The TFD also maintains several Fire Rescue Task Forces (Japanese: æ¶Âé²æÂÂå©æ©ÂÃ¥ÂÂé¨éÂÂ, Hepburn: Shà Âbà  kyà «jo kidà  butai) nicknamed "Hyper Rescue" directly subordinate to the 2nd, 3rd, 6th, 8th, and 9th district headquarters; formed in 1996 in response to the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, these task forces are trained and equipped to provide fire and technical rescue at a higher level than the special rescue teams deployed at stations across Tokyo, and as a result are often called to provide support across district lines or outside of the metropolis. Each of the teams, as well as providing general advanced technical rescue, has its own specialty:
The 1st Fire District Headquarters (Japanese: 第ä¸Âæ¶Âé²æ¹é¢æŽ¨, Hepburn: Dai-ichi shà Âbà  hà Âmen honbu), headquartered at Kà Âjimachi Fire Station, covers the special wards of Chiyoda, Chà «à Â, and Minato in the central Tokyo wards region. The stations in this district cover many of traditional eastern Tokyo's most populous areas, such as the shopping and entertainment districts of Akihabara, Ginza, and Yà «rakuchà Â, as well as several of the capital's most important buildings, such as the National Diet, the Imperial Palace, and Tokyo Station.
The 2nd Fire District Headquarters (Japanese: 第äºÂæ¶Âé²æ¹é¢æŽ¨, Hepburn: Dai-ni shà Âbà  hà Âmen honbu), headquartered at à Âmori Fire Station, covers the special wards of à Âta and Shinagawa in the southern Tokyo wards region. In addition to providing general firefighting, Kamata Fire Station is responsible for providing aircraft rescue and firefighting services to Haneda Airport via its Airport Sub-Station, alongside the airfield fire unit operated by the Japan Civil Aviation Bureau.
The 3rd Fire District Headquarters (Japanese: 第ä¸Âæ¶Âé²æ¹é¢æŽ¨, Hepburn: Dai-san shà Âbà  hà Âmen honbu), headquartered at Setagaya Fire Station, covers the special wards of Shibuya, Setagaya, and Meguro in the south-western Tokyo wards region. As well as covering the lively western centre of Shibuya, the stations here cover the sprawling residential areas in Meguro and Setagaya that are home to large portions of the city's aging population, increasing demand for emergency medical services.
The 4th Fire District Headquarters (Japanese: 第åÂÂæ¶Âé²æ¹é¢æŽ¨, Hepburn: Dai-yon shà Âbà  hà Âmen honbu), headquartered at the Totsuka Branch of Shibuya Fire Station, covers the special wards of Shinjuku, Nakano, and Suginami in the eastern Tokyo wards region. Similarly to the 3rd District, the stations in this area cover both busy nightlife areas in Shinjuku as well as sprawling residential areas out east, requiring a station-by-station focus on each specific ground's local needs.
The 5th Fire District Headquarters (Japanese: 第äºÂæ¶Âé²æ¹é¢æŽ¨, Hepburn: Dai-go shà Âbà  hà Âmen honbu), headquarted at Ikebukero Fire Station, covers the special wards of Kita, Toshima, and Bunkyà  in the northern Tokyo wards region. Again, this area combines high-call volume dense urban centres such as Ikebukero with sprawling residential districts with aging populations.
The 6th Fire District Headquarters (Japanese: 第å Âæ¶Âé²æ¹é¢æŽ¨, Hepburn: Dai-roku shà Âbà  hà Âmen honbu), headquartered at 2-10-9, Kuramae, Taità Â-ku, covers the special wards of Taità Â, Adachi, and Arakawa in the north-eastern Tokyo wards region. The stations in this area face challenges in relation to the salvage of important cultural properties found in the traditional districts surrounding Asakusa, and responding to high-tourist volume areas such as Ueno Park.
The 7th Fire District Headquarters (Japanese: 第ä¸Âæ¶Âé²æ¹é¢æŽ¨, Hepburn: Dai-nana shà Âbà  hà Âmen honbu), headquartered at the Morishita Branch of Fukagawa Fire Station, covers the special wards of Kà Âtà Â, Sumida, Edogawa, and Katsushika in the eastern Tokyo Wards region. The stations in this area have a particular focus both on flood defence and on preparing to prevent the spread of conflagrations following an earthquake; this is a result of the geography of the area, which is particularly low-lying, bound by rivers and canals, and contains a large proportion of the city's old pre-war wooden housing stock.
The 8th Fire District Headquarters (Japanese: 第堫æ¶Âé²æ¹é¢æŽ¨, Hepburn: Dai-hachi shà Âbà  hà Âmen honbu), headquartered at the Tachikawa Wide-Area Disaster Prevention Base, covers much of the eastern section of the Tama region, roughly corresponding to the old Kitatama District.
The 9th Fire District Headquarters (Japanese: 第ä¹Âæ¶Âé²æ¹é¢æŽ¨, Hepburn: Dai-kyà « shà Âbà  hà Âmen honbu), headquartered at the Komiya Branch of Hachià Âji Fire Station, covers much of the western section of the Tama region, roughly corresponding to the old Nishitama and Minamitama districts.
The 10th Fire District Headquarters (Japanese: 第åÂÂæ¶Âé²æ¹é¢æŽ¨, Hepburn: Dai-jà « shà Âbà  hà Âmen honbu), headquarted at the Kitamachi Branch of Hikarigaoka Fire Station, covers the special wards of Nerima and Itabashi in the north-western Tokyo wards region.
The complexes surrounding Tachikawa Airfield in Tama together form the Tachikawa Wide Area Disaster Prevention Base (Japanese: ç«Âå·ÂåºÂÃ¥ÂÂé²ç½åºå°, Hepburn: Tachikawa kà Âiki bà Âsai kichi) which is home to multiple formations of both the TFD and other agencies. On the site, the TFD maintains the Tachikawa Fire Station, the Tachikwa Disaster Prevention Education Centre, the 8th Fire District Headquarters (including the 8th Fire Rescue Task Force), district training grounds, the Tama Aviation Centre, the Tama Command Team, and the Tama Disaster Emergency Information Centre (the emergency operations centre for Western Tokyo).The department also operates the Minami-Tama Comprehensive Disaster Prevention Facility (Japanese: Ã¥ÂÂå¤Âæ©ç·ÂÃ¥ÂÂé²ç½æ½è¨Â, Hepburn: Minamitama sà Âgà Âbà Âsai shisetsu) in Hachià Âji. In times of normal operation, the facility is the home of the Fire Rescue Task Force and training grounds for the 9th Fire District Headquarters, but when a major disaster occurs, the facility is designed to act as a self-sufficient base camp for rescue task forces, with on-site power, water, and sewerage, as well as reserves of water, foam, petrol, and firefighting equipment and accommodation.
As well as the large facilities in the Tama region, the TFD maintains several ancillary facilities across the 23 wards of central Tokyo; these include the Disaster Emergency Information Centre (co-located with the department headquarters in Chiyoda Ward) which receives 199 calls and is responsible for the dispatch, command, and control of units across central Tokyo, the Kà Âtà  Aviation Centre located in Tokyo Heliport which is the base of operations for the Aviation Unit in the 23 wards, and the TFD Equipment Factory in Shibuya which is response for the maintenance of all firefighting equipment and vehicles in the TFD.
The department also operates the Tokyo Fire Academy, which is responsible for the training and continual education of firefighters from across Tokyo Metropolis, including from non-TFD departments, those in Inagi City and the Tokyo Islands, and volunteer firefighters from across the metropolis. The academy, located in Shibuya Ward, delivers both classroom and practical training, including live-fire training. The Fire Rescue Task Force of the 3rd Fire District Headquarters is also based out of the site.
The TFD also rents offices in the Square KÃ Âjimachi building in Chiyoda Ward.
The Tokyo Fire Department, as the largest in the country, has a wider range of vehicles and equipment than any other fire department, and as such has many vehicles which are unique to Tokyo and are not found in other departments or in FDMA regulations. Each vehicle and its crew is generally referred to as a platoon, with two vehicles making up a company; the vehicles draw their callsign from this structure, e.g. the first fire engine at Nerima Fire Station would be referred to on the radio as Nerima Platoon 1. Additionally, each vehicle is assigned a registration number for fleet management purposes consisting of three parts: letter(s) signifying the type of vehicle, two digits indicating which year the vehicle entered surface (drawn from the Japanese era calendar system) and two or three unique numbers unique to that vehicle, e.g. the first fire engine at Nerima Fire Station may be assigned P29077, where P stands for Pump, 29 refers to the fiscal year 2017 (Heisei 29), and 077 is the unique identifying number.
As of 2024, the fleet consisted of 673 traditional fire engines, 91 aerial appliances, 48 foam fire engines, 9 fireboats, 7 firefighting helicopters, 393 ambulances, 50 rescue vehicles, 115 command vehicles, and 642 other vehicles.
As the largest fire department in a country with a large robotics sector, the TFD has pushed to integrate new robots into firefighting; in 2002 the department had 14 robots of 6 distinct types in their fleet, including experimental models, including 4 unmanned monitor nozzle vehicles (nicknamed "Rainbow 5"), a small remote-control firefighting vehicle (nicknamed "Jet Fighter"), a prototype large firefighting vehicle (later to become the "Dragon" Unmanned Water Discharge Vehicle), a rescue robot (nicknamed "Robocue"), 5 underwater search devices (nicknamed "Water Search"), and a reconnaissance robot (nicknamed "Fire Search").
The TFD also worked to develop a smaller and lighter water rescue robot, known as Anchor Diver III; consisting of a sensor body with a high-definition camera and sonar, and a Thruster Activated Extension tether, which connects the robot to a mother ship on the surface and contains thrusters to orient the sensor body in the direction of searching. The robot is designed to be able to search large areas of the floor of bodies of water faster than conventional divers, as well as being able to operate in worse conditions; once the Anchor Diver III robot finds a casualty, conventional divers can then follow the tether down to recover them. This robot was used by robot technicians and the JSDF in the response to the 2011 TÃ Âhoku earthquake and tsunami to conduct seabed searches in the Watari District of Miyagi Prefecture, however the robot encountered several challenges, including a surplus of sonar signals from the amount of debris on the seafloor, and sediment kicked up from the seabed making visual searching using the camera difficult.
The TFD continues to use robots for certain specialist firefighting operations, such as fires at petroleum installations and in response to major natural disasters. These robots include the Unmanned Water Discharge Vehicles (ç¡人走è¡Âæ¾水è»Â), one nicknamed "Dragon" (ãÂÂã©ã´ã³) consisting of a large 2500kg tracked vehicle with a large firefighting monitor capable of discharging up to 5,000 L/min of foam or water; and another nicknamed "Air Core" (ã¨ã¢ã³ã¢) consisting of a 3,970kg tracked vehicle with a large fog nozzle jet and fan capable of providing a misting jet of up to 3,500 L/min of water or 3,000 L/min of foam, as well as providing ventilation. For rescue, the department has Obstacle Removal Vehicles (éÂÂ害ç©é¤å»è»Â) which can be either remotely operated or driven, and has multiple attachments to clear rubble, such as shovels, buckets, breaker drills, and grapples. The department also continues to use the "Water Search" (ã¦ã©ã¿ã¼ãµã¼ãÂÂ) underwater search devices (æ°´ä¸Âæ¤Â索裠置), capable of diving up to 150m deep in conditions unsuitable for conventional divers. The robots have been used in live fires by the department, including in the response to the 2024 Haneda Airport runway collision.
The TFD is heavily involved in community outreach and education throughout Tokyo, as promotion of the Bà Âsai (é²ç½) concept of disaster preparedness is considered a key responsibility of Japanese fire departments in light of the high rate of natural disasters in the country. The department has responsibility for fire prevention, and to this end conducted 36,360 fire safety inspections in FY2024; firefighters engaged in this work have legal powers to inspect most public buildings for risks to fire safety such as blocked exit routes or dangerous electrical installations, and are capable of taking regulatory action against breaches including public notification. Alternatively, premises observed to have good compliance can be issued with publicly-displayed certificates celebrating this. The TFD in particular operates a Mobile Inspection Team (Japanese: æ©ÂÃ¥ÂÂæ»å¯ÂéÂÂ, Hepburn: Kidà  sasatsu-tai) which targets violations in the dense Shinjuku and Kabukichà  nightlife districts. The department also routinely issues public safety information via social media, newsletters, disaster prevention handbooks, and mobile disaster education vehicles; the TFD maintains 4 types of disaster education vehicle: Earthquake Simulation vehicles, a fleet of 7 tonne vibrating trucks capable of simulating earthqaukes up to level 7 on the Japan Meteorological Agency "Shindo" seismic intensity scale including historical examples such as the 2011 Tà Âhoku earthquake and tsunami, VR experience vehicles which can simulate earthquakes, fires, and severe weather events using virtual reality and external apparatus such as fans, heaters, and vibrating equipment, first aid education vehicles which can be used to show instructional videos and carry Resusci Anne-style CPR practice mannequins, and "Machikado" education vans, which carry hose reel equipment which learners can use to familiarise themselves with basic firefighting. Finally, the TFD also maintains a popular band and colour guard for ceremonial and public relations purposes, as well as running youth firefighting and community disaster prevention clubs for resident alongside the Volunteer Fire Corps.
Surveys conducted by the TFD in relation to public outreach have produced mixed results; the Public Opinion Poll on Fire Fighting, an annual survey which in 2024 had 1,645 respondents, found increasing awareness of disaster prevention in those surveyed, but without increased uptake of said courses, and variable change in willingness to undertake training or to intervene in an emergency. A 2016 survey of 1,887 foreign tourists also found that though around a quarter of them had experienced or witnessed an emergency during their stay, only a few (1.3%) placed an emergency call, and roughly two-thirds of those surveyed would wish to undergo short disaster preparedness training if it was available in a convenient location such as at the airport or their hotel.
The Tokyo Fire Museum, officially called the TFD Fire and Disaster Prevention Information Centre (Japanese:æ±京æ¶Âé²åºÂæ¶Âé²é²ç½è³ÂæÂÂãÂȋ³ã¿, Hepburn: Tà Âkyà Âshà Âbà Âchà  shà Âbà  bà Âsai shiryà  senta), co-located with the Yotsuya Fire Station in Shinjuku, is one of the main community locations operated by the department; established in 1992, the museum is open to the public and tour groups for educational purposes, as well as acting as an academic repository detailing information about firefighting in Tokyo. The museum has in its collection over 12,000 exhibits, including firefighting equipment & vehicles from various eras and literature & documents related to firefighting, including ancient nishiki-e (é¦絵) wood block prints and karawaban (ç¦çÂÂ) clay block prints. The site also is home to a large library archive which can be accessed by researchers on request.
The TFD also operates three Life Safety Learning Centres in Ikebukero, Honjo, and Tachikawa. The centres offer basic disaster preparedness training to the general public, including first aid training, training on the operation of fire safety equipment, and what to do in a fire or different natural disasters; each centre has facilities for simulating different disasters such as fire, earthquake, or major storm.
As well as contributing to national and international emergencies (through participation in the national Emergency Fire Rescue Teams and the International Rescue Team of the Japan Fire Service), the TFD has tackled various notable emergencies within Tokyo, including:
The TFD has periodically made appearances in popular media, both as itself in documentaries and represented in fictional pieces, including: