In 2005, former Kobe City firefighter and paramedic Kiyoshi Masai established the NPO Japan Paramedic Rescue (JPR) to save lives by spreading Japan's fire and rescue methods. The organization takes in surplus fire trucks and ambulances from fire departments around Japan and donates them to Cambodia, also providing the training required to take advantage of them. The more than 2 decades of conflict that ravaged Cambodia until the 1990's also devastated the country's fire and rescue services. Today, though military and police personnel are assigned firefighting duties, they lack adequate training and up-to-date equipment.
In 2000, Rapid Rescue Company 711 was set up in Phnom Penh to develop fire and rescue personnel, and learning advanced techniques used in Japan has boosted the effectiveness of its 40 members. In December 2016, with the backing of Cambodia's military and government, the country's first fire and rescue academy opened its doors. And students there will learn fire and rescue best practice from local instructors trained in Japan. We follow rescue workers from Japan and Cambodia cooperating to save lives.
