The wildfire in Ashikaga City, Tochigi Prefecture, took place on the 25th, four days after the outbreak, but the air was dry and the fire continued to spread, making firefighting difficult.
The city continues to issue evacuation advisories to a total of 207 households, as there is no prospect of extinguishing the fire.
According to Tochigi Prefecture, the wildfire that broke out in Nishinomiya-cho, Ashikaga City on February 21 has continued to spread, and as of 3:00 pm on the 25th, about 100 hectares have been burnt and spread.
The Self-Defense Forces continued to extinguish the fire with a helicopter from the sky on the 25th, and the fire department is discharging water from the ground, but the air is dry and the fire extinguishing activity is difficult, so there is no prospect of extinguishing the fire.
Ashikaga City has issued evacuation advisories to a total of 207 households in the city, saying that there is a risk of fire spreading to residential areas, and the evacuation centers set up in three places in the city are on the afternoon of the 25th. As of 2 o'clock, a total of 15 people from 9 households have been evacuated.
According to the East Nippon Expressway, the Kita Kanto Expressway, which runs near the site, has been closed for some sections since the night of the 24th.
According to the city, no one has been injured by the fire so far, but the wooden shrine building in the mountains has been completely destroyed.
In addition, some households in the city had water outages due to the use of a large amount of water in firefighting activities, but all of them were resolved by around 3:00 pm on the 25th.
Interview with the health status of residents
The city interviewed 207 households for which evacuation advisories were issued to see if there were any health problems.
A group of two staff members visit a house in the target area and ask the residents if they are worried about their health or if they have enough sleep at night. I was handing over my throat candy.
The resident who received the visit said, "I'm really grateful that you care about this without knowing how long it will last. I'll be careful about my health and wait for the fire to be extinguished."
Ayako Shimoyama, a public health nurse from the Ashikaga City Health Promotion Division, said, "People with chronic illnesses may get worse under these circumstances, and they may be overstressed. I was talking.
Increased to 8 GSDF helicopters and discharged water
The Ground Self-Defense Force has dispatched a CH47 transport helicopter over the site and is continuing water discharge activities.
Since the momentum of the fire did not subside, the number of helicopters was doubled from the afternoon of the 24th to eight, and from the 22nd to the 25th at 3:00 pm, about 210 times in total. It means that about 1050 tons of water was discharged.
At a press conference held on the 25th, Koji Yamazaki, Chief of Staff, Joint Staff of the Self-Defense Forces, said, "We would like to cooperate well with local governments and maximize our capabilities to extinguish fires."
Request for dispatch of emergency firefighting assistance team to Tokyo Fire Department
Satoshi Izumi, the mayor of Ashikaga City, explained that the reason why firefighting activities were difficult was that "the dry state continues and the range of fire spread is expanding due to the burning fallen leaves flying in the wind." It was revealed that the Tokyo Fire Department was requested to dispatch an emergency fire brigade through the prefecture.
Mayor Izumi of Ashikaga City held a press conference at a facility in the city that is an evacuation center on the afternoon of the 25th and explained the situation.
Among them, Mayor Izumi explained the reason why the fire did not go out even four days after the fire broke out and the fire extinguishing activities were difficult, saying, "The dry state continues and the burning fallen leaves fly in the wind. The range of fire spread is expanding. "
So far, no injuries have been identified, but as of the morning of the 25th, the fire was approaching 50 meters from the nearest residential area.
Under these circumstances, Mayor Izumi revealed that he had requested the Tokyo Fire Department to dispatch an emergency fire brigade through the prefecture.
In addition, from the story of a firefighter who rushed to the scene after receiving a 119 call on the day of the fire, he said that the fire may have broke out near the rest area on the hiking course of Ryogaizan at an altitude of 251 meters.