In the early morning of the 3rd, there was a fire that burned a part of the former main government building "Red Brick Government Building", which is designated as an important cultural property of the country, on the premises of the Hokkaido Government Office in Sapporo City.
Police say there were no injuries.
At around 0:30 am today, a nearby person reported to the fire department that smoke was coming out of the premises of the Hokkaido Government Office in Chuo-ku, Sapporo.
According to the fire department, 18 fire engines came out and the fire was extinguished after about two and a half hours, but about 300 square meters of the facility installed on the site was burned.
Currently, large-scale renovation work is underway at the Hokkaido Government Office's "Red Brick Government Building," which is designated as a national important cultural property. The roof of the Octagonal Tower was preserved.
The facility stores equipment for repair and has a space where you can observe the state of repair, but according to the police, there were no people in the facility at the time of the fire, and no one was injured.
Police and fire departments are investigating the detailed cause of the fire, as it is not yet known if the roof of the "octagonal tower" that was stored has been damaged.
What is “Red Brick Government Building”?
The former main building of the Hokkaido Government, the Red Brick Government Building, which is designated as an Important Cultural Property of Japan, was built in 1898, but was completely destroyed by fire except for the outer wall. is.
The "octagonal tower" is located in the upper center of the "red brick government building" and is a symbol of the government building.
111 years have passed since the rebuilding of the "Red Brick Government Building", and it is now in need of repairs and seismic reinforcement due to its aging. , This August, it was separated from the government building and relocated to a facility on the premises of the government office.
In addition to equipment for repairs, the facility also has a "viewing space", which will be open to the public according to future repair work.
No suspicious points in the previous patrol
According to the road, the facility where the roof of the "octagonal pagoda" was kept is to be patrolled by security guards three times a day, from night to early morning, at 10:00 pm, 2:00 am, and 6:00 am. , There was no suspicious point in the patrol at 10:00 pm on the 2nd before the fire started.
In addition, the facility is managed by a company that undertakes the repair of the "red brick government building", and we will check with the company to see if there was anything that could cause a fire on the road in the future.