{"id":175677,"date":"2026-01-23T11:38:18","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T02:38:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/?post_type=news&#038;p=175677&#038;lang=en"},"modified":"2026-01-23T11:38:18","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T02:38:18","slug":"fire-academy-to-face-charges-over-death","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/news\/fire-academy-to-face-charges-over-death\/","title":{"rendered":"Fire Academy Officials to Face Charges Over Trainee\u2019s Death"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Police plan to refer three former officials of the Fukuoka City Fire Academy, including the former principal, to prosecutors on January 21 on suspicion of professional negligence resulting in death. In July 2024, a 26-year-old firefighter trainee drowned during a water rescue drill at a 3.3-meter-deep pool in Nishi Ward. A city report found that 52 recruits were treading water simultaneously in a training exercise conducted for over 30 years without incident. Investigators said the school failed to question its safety. Police believe the training plan lacked proper risk assessment and safety measures but was still approved by senior officials. <\/span><b>Source<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/newsdig.tbs.co.jp\/articles\/rkb\/2413760?display=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">RKB News<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \/ <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/news.web.nhk\/newsweb\/na\/nb-5010031669\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">NHK News<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-175676\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/fnn_fire-academy-news_2026_cl.jpg?resize=1200%2C671&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"671\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/fnn_fire-academy-news_2026_cl.jpg?w=1200&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/fnn_fire-academy-news_2026_cl.jpg?resize=300%2C168&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/fnn_fire-academy-news_2026_cl.jpg?resize=1024%2C573&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/fnn_fire-academy-news_2026_cl.jpg?resize=768%2C429&amp;ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/>Photo: RKB News<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Stay informed with the latest Fukuoka &amp; Kyushu news and events in English. Sign up for our <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/mailmagazine\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">free weekly newsletter <\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">today and never miss a beat. Opt out anytime, your privacy is our priority. Get the inside scoop with <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/mailmagazine\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Now<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Summaries based on public content, errors may occur during translation. Images credited independently. Send feedback using <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/contact\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">this <\/span><b>form<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Police plan to refer three former officials of the Fukuoka City Fire Academy, including the former principal, to prosecutors on&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30292,"featured_media":175676,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","tags":[],"class_list":["post-175677","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","location-fukuoka-city","location-nishi-ku","news-category-general","en-US"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/175677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30292"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175677"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/175676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}