A look at the reasons for Yokohama City Fire Department's decision to continue supporting "119 Emergency Call" behind the scenes

Due to the controversy over FujiTV's role in the Nakai Masahiro incident, many companies and government organisations have put on hold or cancelled their collaborations and/or business relations with the TV station while waiting for its third party committee investigation to conclude before deciding on the path ahead. In the midst of this, Yokohama City Fire Department's decision to help with the filming of Winter 2025 drama "119 Emergency Call" behind the scenes while removing any mention of its name in the credits was met with mixed reactions from the public.

According this article by Toyo Keizai, while it was avoidable that some had criticised the fire department for using taxpayers' money to provide support to the production of this drama and being seen as "endorsing" FujiTV's perceived enablement and abetment of Nakai's action and compliance violations, there were also others who were worried about whether the drama would make it till the end of the season if the fire department had pulled the plug on supporting the filming. 

Of course, the city government and the fire department would have definitely expected some degree of backlash regarding their decision even with the removal of their names in the credits. While there was no mention of a detailed analysis on the responses and comments posted on social media and articles with regard to this, Toyo Keizai noted that many of the negative comments called for the withdrawal of support mainly to show a firm stand against FujiTV's failings in the incident and the handling of the aftermath. And due to the nature of the Internet and social media, it was more likely that those who felt strongly against the collaboration would tend to speak out as compared to those who were on the fence or had positive sentiments towards the drama. Perhaps this was also why that those in favour of the decision tend to cite specific reasons and personal examples explaining why this drama would be useful and informational to the public such as knowing how to provide useful information in a calm manner to the emergency hotline officers and being able to appreciate and understand the value of the important work done by the command centre officers who are largely "unseen" by the public. It certainly does take a lot more effort to write praise as compared to dishing out criticism online.

As seen from the positive feedback from the public, it seems that the three aims of the fire department in supporting such a drama have indeed been met to a certain extent:

1. Promoting the understanding of the fire department's work: Through the drama, the public can understand how the fire department's teams work together, how to make 119 emergency calls and the challenges in its inability to dispatch fire engines and ambulances "immediately" during certain situations. In this drama, the command centre officers do not actually go out to save lives but have an important role in "passing on the baton" to those on the ground and are equally pivotal to their other colleagues in the process of saving lives. 
2. The potential of positive spillover effects to fire departments nationwide: While this drama is set in Yokohama City, the importance of the work handled by the fire department's control centre would be the same anywhere else. As such, in order to convey this and boost understanding of their work, giving up on the collaboration with FujiTV so easily will no doubt be counterproductive to their efforts so far.
3. To enhance the public's safety and boost awareness: As featured in the drama, most people who call the emergency hotline would tend to be nervous and in a panic mode thus cannot provide details or comprehensive information to the command centre's officers. This no doubt delays the speed of dispatching appropriate resources to deal with the situation and creates the inability of on-the-ground emergency personnel to handle the matter in the best way possible. This is when useful tips such as how to stay calm, speak succinctly yet being detailed would be of value to those reporting cases to the emergency hotline. In addition, making the public be aware of when to call the hotline such as those who can go to the hospital themselves shouldn't be calling for ambulances or showing how prank calls can waste time of the officers who should be working on the true emergencies are expected to boost safety for themselves and others since nobody would know when they might be the ones who require help one day.

On the other hand, there could be potential benefits to the fire department itself since it doesn't really have to spend extra money for its collaboration with FujiTV. From what is known so far, the support provided includes training and acting guidance during filming and lending of fire engines and uniforms. Through fostering understanding of their work, the fire department may also be able to achieve better optimisation of their operations through the reduction of waste and resources caused by non-emergencies and other situations like prank calls. In addition, the spotlight shone on the command centre officers might create a "career boom" as more children and youngsters get inspired to join this line which will help in the uncovering and development of future talent. And since the lead character was someone who switched jobs from a bank to the command centre, it is also hoped that adults may be encouraged to do the same and consider this occupation which was relatively unknown until this drama. Last but not least, this drama might also help to increase the motivation of current command centre officers who hardly get any recognition and praise for the work they do.

The article also mentioned how the drama already had its fair share of difficulties right from the start such as when the broadcast of Ep 1 was interrupted due to the earthquake in Miyazaki Prefecture on 13 Jan or that its Ep 3 broadcast was cancelled at the last minute due to the over-run caused by FujiTV's marathon press conference about the Nakai incident. Despite these and the sponsor fallout, the drama is still staying its course and has been praised in the media. While it remains to be seen if anything else might happen to cause any changes, it will certainly be good for the drama to finish its run successfully and deliver its intended objectives as planned.