To respond quickly to fires, accidents and disasters, the Tokyo Fire Department in September will start a system on a trial basis in which callers to the 119 emergency number can send footage of the scene via smartphone.
The department hopes to use the system to grasp the situation at the scene immediately after an incident occurs and to instruct callers on how to perform emergency aid procedures, planning to put it to full use before the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics next summer.
The envisaged system will be introduced at the Command and Control Center in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward, which receives about 700,000 emergency calls a year from the capital's 23 wards.
A dispatcher who receives an emergency call at the center can send a short message to the caller's smartphone if the dispatcher finds it necessary to examine the scene by video.
When the caller accesses a URL attached to the message, the camera on the smartphone automatically activates, from which the recorded footage is sent to the center.
The dispatcher assesses the video on a monitor at the center, and sends out additional fire engines and ambulances to the scene if the damage from the fire or accident is serious.
The dispatcher may ask the caller to give artificial respiration to a collapsed person or first aid to an injured person among other instructions, until a rescue team arrives on the scene. If the caller does not know how to do the requested actions, the dispatcher can send explanatory videos and images to their smartphone to instruct them in detail.
Rescue efforts must be made as soon as possible. In the event of cardiac arrest, the estimated survival rate decreases by 7% to 10% every minute, if cardiac massage, or a similar procedure, is not performed.
"If appropriate measures are taken, there must be more lives that can be saved," said an official of the department.
The system was developed by a Kobe-based IT company. The Kobe City Fire Department introduced the system on a trial basis from November last year to March this year, becoming the first one to use it in the nation.
It received videos in 10 cases during the trial period. In one case, a person at the scene was asked to perform a cardiac massage, and a firefighter gave the person such instructions as pressing a little higher.
The Kobe City Fire Department will soon fully introduce the system, while about 20 other local fire departments, including those in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture, and Hatsukaichi, Hiroshima Prefecture, are considering introducing it, according to the developer.
The problems are that the callers have to bear the cost of video calls, while those filming the scene under instructions from the fire department might be mistaken for random curious onlookers, which could lead to trouble.
The Tokyo Fire Department will set rules on how to operate the system, such as obtaining approval from callers in advance and will publicize the rules on its website and elsewhere before the full introduction of the system.
The Tokyo Games, which were postponed to next summer, are expected to attract many visitors from Japan and abroad, raising the possibility that the number of emergency dispatches will increase. The Tokyo Fire Department expects that the new system will be useful as it will allow those who find it difficult to explain in Japanese to send footage of the scene so that the dispatcher can easily grasp the situation.
About 930,000 emergency calls were made in Tokyo, excluding certain areas such as islands, in 2017, and the number increased to about 980,000 in 2018. Of them, 164,820 calls were made for inquiries, complaints and other things that are not disasters needing urgent attention.
"We would like to assess the urgency of the situation through the footage [sent via the new system] so as to dispatch fire engines and ambulances efficiently," said an official of the Tokyo Fire Department.
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