Greetings by New Fire Chief

I am pleased to have the opportunity to announce my appointment here. I am Yuji Arai, the 22nd Fire Chief of the Tokyo Fire Department.

I sincerely appreciate your deep understanding and special cooperation in promoting our daily fire administration.

With Japan�fs economy facing hardships, the Tokyo Fire Department sees many challenges lying ahead. Given the situation, we need to better prepare for major disasters like devastating earthquakes, step up fire and emergency services including EMS, push forward fire prevention measures to cope with the new threats surrounding our building environment. I feel more responsible than ever before for residents�f life safety, and I am certainly determined to enhance it.

As for our immediate issues, we are promoting home fire safety by encouraging communities to have fire alarms in the home, while continuing our efforts to make Tokyo resilient to all types of disasters, so that residents can feel secure living in the capital. Together with the 18,000 personnel of my department, I will keep on going and carrying out measures to realize people�fs desire for greater safety.

I look forward to your continuous support and assistance for our future endeavors.