Integrated firefighting drill conducted at Institute
An integrated firefighting drill was conducted at the Institute starting at 10:30 a.m. on January 26.
The simulated fire started in the hot-water service room on the third floor of the Institute. Training included the early extinguishing, reporting the fire, evacuation guidance, and first-aid, centering on the in-house firefighting team comprised of Institute members. In addition, many staff members who were at the Institute on that day participated in the drill.
At 10:30 a.m., the fire alarms went off, and the message “A fire has broken out. Evacuate!” was broadcast. The in-house firefighting team and the person who detected the fire used fire extinguishers to simulate fast extinguishing, and simulated a call to 119. The staff was guided, and evacuated the premises.
At the same time, we set up a firefighting head office and a first-aid station, and the in-house firefighting team evacuated one trapped member who became sick inhaling smoke on a stretcher, and carried out important cultural properties (simulation).
After the drill, Director Suzuki expressed his thanks for the response to the training and talked about this time, a turning point of the 55th Fire Prevention Day for Cultural Properties: We must always take care because we can never know when or where a fire will break out. Mr. Suzuki discussed the unknown cause of the destruction by fire of the Mural Painting of Horyuji Golden Hall, which was the event that inspired the Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties. His comments boosted fire prevention awareness among all participants.
After a lecture on types of and the proper way to use fire extinguishers, training using practice extinguishers were carried out with a voice of “Fire!”.
Also in this training, a demonstration was held on how to use the automated external defibrillators (AEDs) installed in the Institute: Participants listened carefully to this demonstration, showing high interest in the importance of life-saving measures.
The Institute has a yearly fire drill as an event associated with “Fire Prevention Day for Cultural Properties” on January 26.