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Support Japan’s Firefighters in their Recovery Efforts

Published Date: 03.22.2011

The recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan has resulted in unimaginable loss and destruction, and the road to recovery will be long and challenging. In times of crisis, people turn to the members of the fire and emergency services for help. The National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC) has set up an International Relief Fund to help the Japan Firefighters Association in their relief efforts, and we need your support.

“We grieve with the rest of the world for all those who have lost their lives in this terrible disaster, and we offer our deepest sympathies to the survivors who are now left to pick up the pieces in the wake of this devastating tragedy,” said NVFC Chairman Philip C. Stittleburg. “We set up the relief fund for the Japan Firefighters Association to do what we can to help them in their relief and recovery efforts, and we ask the U.S. fire service community join us in supporting our brother firefighters in Japan during this time of crisis.”

All funds raised by the NVFC for the Japan relief efforts will go to the Japan Firefighters Association. To make a donation by credit card, click the following link: 

Donations can also be made via check. Make the check out to ‘NVFC’ and indicate Japan Relief Efforts in the memo line. Mail checks to:

NVFC
Attn: Japan Relief Efforts
7852 Walker Drive, Suite 450
Greenbelt, MD 20770

“The big earthquake several days ago to which you showed great concern is the one that has never been experienced even by an earthquake country like us, and caused enormous damage,” Mr. Toshifumi Akimoto, Chairman of the Japan Firefighters Association, said in a letter to the NVFC. “It is a time for us to work very hard in fighting fire and rescuing.”

Thank you to everyone who has contributed to the International Relief Fund. Please pass this information on to others who may be willing to support the Japanese fire service.

The Japan Firefighters Association has assisted U.S. firefighters in times of need through donations to 9/11 relief efforts as well as contributions to the NVFC’s Volunteer Firefighter Support Fund, which provides financial assistance to volunteer firefighters in the wake of a state- or federally-declared disaster. Members of the Japan Firefighters Association have visited the U.S. many times to meet with leaders from the NVFC and local departments across the U.S., including a visit in October. NVFC Executive Director Heather Schafer attended the Japan Firefighters Association’s Junior Fire Brigade Summit in Tokyo last month, and NVFC Chairman Philip C. Stittleburg previously attended an international fire service conference in Tokyo in 2008.

Click here to read about the Junior Fire Brigade Summit.

Click here to read Schafer’s blog about the recent disaster.

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