More young people joining volunteer fire fighting groups in quake-struck areas (JAPAN)

[AsahinaKimi]

Volunteer firefighters search for the missing in the rubble in Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture, in this photo taken on March 12. (Mainichi)

An increasing number of young people have been joining volunteer fire fighting organizations in areas affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake, unlike other regions that are having a hard time securing enough volunteer firefighters.

In Sendai and other disaster-affected areas, a rising number of people in their 20s and 30s are joining local volunteer fire fighting groups. The phenomenon comes despite the fact that a total of 249 volunteer firefighters died or went missing in Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures in the March 11 disaster while they were evacuating residents and controlling the floodgates of coastal levees, among other tasks. These tragedies had prompted local authorities to worry about the possibility of younger generations shying away from fire fighting activities.

According to the fire department of Sendai, volunteer firefighters usually retire at age 65 after appointing their successors aged around 40, thereby managing to maintain a total squad membership of 2,200 or so. After the March 11 disaster, the city was flooded with applications for volunteer fire squads, with 50 new members joining while 27 retired due to age in the three-month period since April. Most of the new members -- at 80 percent -- were those in their teens through 30s.

In the Miyagi Prefecture town of Rifu, four people -- three of them in their 20s -- joined a local firefighting group after the quake-disaster. "It is rare for such young people to join a firefighting organization, or even apply directly," said a town official.

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http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110725p2a00m0na013000c.html

[Forkboy]

1. K&R

[snagglepuss]

2. Kudos to those becoming socially active in response to a horrific tragedy..

:applause:


Thanks for posting.

[Historic NY]

3. Something that is desperately needed here in the US...

[mrmpa]

4. Here in western PA, young men and women who volunteer with

their local Fire Departments, receive free tuition at the local community college. There is a requirement of how long they have to be a member of the department, but the tuition is free. They can select whatever they want as a major. They can then attend a local 4 year college to complete their Bachelor degree.