Study on Roles and Awareness of Fire Volunteer in the Local Community

Case Study of the World Heritage Site of Ogimachi district in Shirakawa Village

Abstract

This report discusses the analysis of roles and awareness of fire volunteers (FV) by conducting an interview survey asking their reason of joining, motivation for participating and relationship with local community. FV in Shirakawa village takes important roles since one district called Ogimachi is registered as World Heritage site. In the village, FV is not only an organization in charge of disaster management but also a place where young person who returned to the village was first accepted and make a human relationship with different age groups of the community. Awareness of FV is kept high by practicing for the FV competition, participating in actual fire/flood situation and being a leader of a group. Also, local information is shared during the daily activity and training. This is a part of their tradition and it is recognized that maintaining FV was the same as protecting the village.