Participants in most international exchange programs aren’t required to rush into burning buildings or save cats from trees.

But that’s what Takehiro Suzuki might be called upon to do during his seven months in Kansas. Suzuki, a firefighter from Lawrence’s sister city of Hiratsuka, Japan, is training and working with Lawrence-Douglas County Fire & Medical.

Lt. Takehiro Suzuki, Hiratsuka, Japan, is training with Lawrence-Douglas County Fire & Medical to learn about techniques and equipment that Americans use. Suzuki has been in Lawrence since Aug. 1.

“He’ll fight fires,” said Capt. Shaun Coffey. “Not right now, but we’ll have him on one of the pumper trucks.”

Suzuki, 31, is a lieutenant with seven years experience in the Hiratsuka Fire Department. He’s learning to navigate the differences in language, culture and equipment before he goes on emergency calls.

“It’s very similar,” Suzuki said of American and Japanese firefighting methods.

But there are differences. For one thing, hydrants in Japan are built below the ground; firefighters there must open manhole covers to get to water when they attack a blaze.

Also, Japanese fire trucks are much smaller than their American counterparts.

“We have a lot of narrower roads,” Suzuki said.

And believe it or not, firefighters in Japan must deal with humidity more intense than most Kansans experience. Hiratsuka is a coastal town; humidity often reaches 88 percent there. Under such conditions, firefighter could quickly become dehydrated.

“The uniforms are very heavy here,” Suzuki said last week, dripping from sweat after a training demonstration. “But my fire department’s suits are lightweight.”

Suzuki is here under the same program that brought an intern from Hiratsuka last year to work in various departments at City Hall.

“It’s helpful on the technical level, because you see how city services work from place to place, but also on a human level,” City Manager Mike Wildgen said.

Coffey agreed.

“I think it’s going real well,” he said. “Once we get over the language aspects, there are a lot of similarities between Japanese and American firefighters. It exposes everybody in the department to a lot of different things, culturally. Once he goes out on a call with us, there’ll definitely be more bonding with the guys.”

There are no plans to send a Lawrence firefighter to Japan, Coffey said.

“He speaks a lot better English than we do Japanese,” he said.

Suzuki said he missed his wife and two children in Hiratsuka, but he has enjoyed Lawrence’s hospitality.

“Lawrence people are very kind and friendly,” he said. “I like them.”