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Tokyo / AFP
A rapidly-spreading fire engulfed more than 100 buildings and sparked evacuations in a northern Japanese city on Thursday, leaving two people injured and forcing authorities to mobilise the military.
Aerial footage broadcast live on Japanese TV showed massive orange flames and thick grey smoke spewing out of buildings throughout much of the day in the city of Itoigawa in Niigata prefecture. A total of 155 army personnel and 25 vehicles arrived in the coastal city in the afternoon after Niigata Governor Ryuichi Yoneyama requested aid.
The blaze started at 10:28 am (0128 GMT) at a Chinese restaurant, according to a Niigata prefectural official, and a total of at least 17 fire trucks were deployed in the area.
As daylight receded, the bright burning flames contrasted with the darkening sky, while embers smouldered in some of the gutted structures. “We can still see fire and smoke rising in the area from city hall,” Atsuhiro Kawanami, a city official, said in the early evening.
He said efforts to put out the fire were continuing and officials were still assessing its scale. About 140 houses and buildings were damaged and 65 residents evacuated their houses to an auditorium next to the city hall, while an evacuation advisory was given to 586 residents in the neighbourhood.
“This is an area that has both residential houses and shops,” Kawanami said, “but the fire happened during the day, so we think that many, if not most, residents were away.”
Itoigawa is located on the northen coast fronting the Sea of Japan (East Sea) and has a population of 44,510 people, according to its website.