Chatan’s Nirai Fire Department has concluded a cooperative agreement with Kinko Jyuki, Okinawa’s largest heavy equipment leasing company, to secure the use of a crane truck with a 120-long boom in case one is needed for a rescue operation.

One of the buildings within Nirai Fire Department’s jurisdiction is a hotel in Chatan with 24-floors that rise to a height of 81 meters. The highest ladder truck of Nirai can reach the height of 35 meters. The agreement makes Kinko’s largest crane truck that can reach up to 120 meters available to the fire department. Using these trucks, rescue operations of high-rise buildings become possible.

According to officials at Nirai and Kinkou, this is the first cooperative agreement between a fire department and a private company to use crane trucks for the purpose of disaster relief.

Nirai has concluded agreements with private companies to cope with rescue operations since March 2013, and has such agreements with 37 companies so far. They now have a system that guarantees them a priority access to fuel, LPG, heavy construction equipment, trucks, and household medicines, among others. Kinkou Jyuki, the 38th company to enter into an agreement, will send crane trucks and operators as needed.

Within the jurisdiction of Nirai, there are 11 high-rise buildings that a 35-meter ladder truck can’t reach. They include ten hotel and apartment buildings in Chatan Town, and one hotel in Yomitan Village.

Officials at Nirai Fire Station state that they are very happy that they now have an ability to rescue people from high-rise buildings, while Kinkou Jyuki officials see the agreement as a great honor for the company.

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