The area formerly referred to as ‘Taichung County’ and ‘Taichung City’ was merged and integrated into a municipality on December 25^th, 2010. It is a metropolis with more than 2.6 million populations and covers an area of more than 2200 square kilometers. It is also among the ‘five metropolises’ in Taiwan. There are 29 administrative districts under its jurisdiction. As well as highly urbanized districts, there are relatively remote mountainous areas too. However, most of them are sub-metropolitan areas near the metropolis. The complex and diversified environment resulted in diversified disasters. To confront potential hazards such as fire in commercial and residential areas, chemical disasters in industrial areas and mudslides in hillside areas, Great Taichung needs a mechanism and a team that provides a 24-hour guard to protect citizen’s life and property safety.

The Fire Bureau of Taichung City Government is equipped with a Fire Prevention Section, a Disaster Rescue Section, a Disaster Management Section, a Dangerous Goods Management Section, an Emergency Medical Service Section, a Training and Education Section, a Fire Investigation Section, a Personnel Office, an Accounting Office, a Civil Service Ethics Office, a Secretary Office (11 sections and offices in total), a Car Maintenance Center and Emergency and a Rescue Command Center; it is also equipped with eight emergency and rescue corps, a special rescue corps, fifty-three branches and a medical service team, committed to the responsibility of protecting citizen’s lives and property safety and providing fire prevention, disaster rescue and emergency medical services to all citizens.

Prevention is the top priority in fire fighting. The fire fighters uphold the principle of ‘prevent accidents before they occur’, implement various fire inspections and regulations actively, hold rescue drills and disaster prevention maneuvers continuously and take advantage of social resources in order to implement diversified fire prevention and disaster prevention advocacy through various voluntary organizations, print media and electrical media. Therefore, the preparedness towards disaster prevention/rescue and the contingency awareness of common people is enhanced, and the concept of ‘disaster prevention is the premise of disaster rescue’ is instilled everywhere in Taichung. A secure living environment is thus established through the cooperation of fire fighters and citizens.

Since disasters are unpredictable, the fire fighting team should be ready at all times and available for people to report cases 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. No matter what kind of disaster occurs (such as fire, typhoon, earthquake or mountain rescue), fire fighters should be dispatched immediately and be committed to the responsibility of protecting citizen’s lives and providing a service to society; concerns about their own safety are put aside, they brave the raging storm or go through raging flames, risk their own lives at the scene and see rescuing lives as the top priority. As people are confronted with emergency injuries or diseases and appeal to 119 for help, the Rescue Command Center will dispatch ambulance vehicles and personnel immediately, and well-trained emergency personnel will arrive on the scene as soon as possible in order to provide professional and effective emergency services, and do their very best for every life under threat.

With the advancement of information and the improvement of the quality of life, people are increasing their demands for safety. Regarding this demand, the Fire Bureau of Taichung City Government upholds the philosophy of excellence, implements various disaster prevention/rescuing body/skill training sessions regularly and absorbs experience and knowledge from all around the world, hoping to make fire fighters familiar with various disaster conditions and bring their professional skills to provide services to the citizens both rapidly and with precision. In order to reduce the loss resulted from disasters effectively and protect public safety, the Fire Bureau of Taichung City Government also upholds the belief of ‘more preparation, less disaster’, and integrates various software/hardware equipment and various rescuing resources actively for reducing disaster losses or preventing disasters, establishing a competitive fire fighting team with the support and confirmation of people and continues to provide robust and high-quality fire fighting services to citizens.