Firefighters Point Out “Inadequacies of Fire Department” in Yashio Road Cave-in

Couldn’t the driver have been rescued earlier?

What was the 72-year-old driver’s state of mind in the cold, dark hole? ……

A month has already passed since the accident, a road caved in in Yashio City, Saitama Prefecture. The driver of the truck that fell into the hole that suddenly opened up on the prefectural road, which is a main road, is still not rescued. Why can’t they rescue him? Couldn’t something have been done at an earlier stage? Many people must have felt this way as they watched the sinkhole continue to collapse and expand.

It is difficult to judge, but there were alternatives, and the fire department mismanaged the situation,” said a number of fire department officials. Before explaining the “mismanagement,” let us first look back at the circumstances of the accident.

According to the Saitama prefectural government, the cause of the cave-in was a 5-meter-diameter sewage pipe that was damaged, causing a hole to open and earth and sand to flow into it. Under the ground, soil and sand gradually leaked into the sewer pipe, creating a large cavity under the prefectural road. The asphalt on the top surface could no longer hold and collapsed, creating a large hole in the prefectural road, and a truck that was just passing by fell in, along with its driver.

Early reports indicate that the truck was slanted in the hole, head first into the sand and soil, and that the driver’s cab was covered with sand and soil, exposing the bed of the truck.

The Soka-Yashio Fire Department, which has jurisdiction over the site, received a 119 call at 9:49 a.m. on January 28, stating that the road had caved in and the truck had fallen in. The fire department immediately dispatched a fire brigade and began rescue activities. According to the fire department, the driver in the cab was answering the call from the time they arrived until about 1:00 p.m. several hours later. The initial rescue method was for two firefighters wearing lifelines to descend into the hole and dig around the driver’s cab by hand with shovels. However, the interior of the collapsed hole collapsed further, and the firefighters were caught in the collapse, injuring two of the crew members and hospitalizing one.

The fire brigade then changed its strategy to “hoist the truck with a crane. A private crane was requested and an attempt was made to lift the truck. However, the first attempt to lift the truck at around 8:30 p.m. failed when the wire broke. The number of cranes was increased, and a second attempt was made around 10:00 p.m., and at 1:00 a.m., just after the date had changed, the load was lifted.

However, only the cargo bed was lifted. The driver’s cab was shredded, probably because it could not withstand the weight of the sand and soil. Immediately after that, another major collapse occurred, swallowing utility poles and a large signboard of a store into the ground. It is believed that the loss of the loading platform was caused by the collapse of sediment that had been trapped in the ground. Rescue efforts were suspended following the collapse. After that, the fire department could not even determine where the driver’s cab was located.

It was a landslide.” Inadequate Rescue Methods

A firefighter belonging to a different fire department from Yashio in Saitama Prefecture pointed out that the rescue method was appropriate.

The truck was buried in the sand and soil, and the surrounding area kept collapsing. This is a landslide disaster. If we were responding to a landslide disaster, trench rescue should have been the method of choice.”

Trench rescue, in this case, is a rescue technique in which the truck is surrounded by planks and other materials to prevent another collapse and to ensure the safety of the firefighters and the driver, who is the person who needs to be rescued.

The general public may think, ‘firefighters are doing their best without flinching from injuries,’ but firefighters feel differently. Rescue professionals work while ensuring the safety of the driver. It is a shame to be injured at the scene of a fire. Moreover, in this case, the crucial rescue was not performed. If trench rescue had been performed, the safety of the firefighters could have been ensured and the driver could have been rescued,” said a fire department official.

However, a reporter from a national newspaper who interviewed the Soka-Yashio Fire Department, which was engaged in the rescue operation, had the following to say.

When we asked them why they did not perform a trench rescue, they said it was a decision made at the site. When we asked if they had any trench rescue equipment or training experience, they replied that they had neither.

It is true that without equipment or training experience, it is inevitable that they could not perform a trench rescue, but the firefighter said, “I can’t criticize them for that.

To begin with, there are no mountains in the Soka-Yashio area. There are no mountains in the Soka-Yashio area, and there is no landslide hazard area at all. It is no wonder they are unprepared. If you don’t have the equipment and skills to do so, you should promptly ask for backup from another fire department.”

In other words, the reason for the aforementioned mismanagement of rescue procedures was the “inadequate assessment of the situation” in not calling for backup at an early stage.

Inadequate judgment of the situation

There is a unit in Saitama Prefecture called the Landslide and Wind/Flood Damage Mobile Support Unit. This unit is organized by the Saitama City Fire Department, the East Saitama Fire Department, the Fukaya City Fire Department, and the Ageo City Fire Department, and we held joint training last year. Adjacent Tokyo is also home to the Tokyo Fire Department with its Hyper Rescue Team.

If there is a person in need of rescue in front of them, firefighters in the field will use all their knowledge and strength to try to save him or her. There are no excuses such as lack of equipment. They have pride as rescue professionals. That is why the executives of the fire department, who are more senior, should have assessed their competence and made the decision to call for assistance at an early stage,” said a firefighter.

The Soka-Yashio Fire Department made a large-scale call to the Tokyo Fire Department and other authorities for backup at 9:00 a.m. on the following day, the 29th, almost a full day after the call was made. The second major collapse had already occurred at the site, and the caboose could no longer be seen. Backup units from Saitama Prefecture and the Tokyo Fire Department rushed to the scene one after another to participate in rescue operations, but the situation was already beyond their control.

The fire department’s ineptitude may have contributed to the prolonged rescue operation. When we asked the Soka-Yashio Fire Department about the situation, the response was as follows.

We are currently in the process of verifying the details of our activities at the time of the accident by interviewing our staff members and other means. At this point, we are refraining from giving an answer.

According to Saitama Prefecture, the sewage pipe is currently being rerouted to prevent the inflow of sewage. This work is expected to take approximately three months to complete, and the search will have to wait until then.

A few hours after the accident was reported is a very long and painful time, considering the state of mind of the driver and his family, who had the energy to answer the call.