The Wajima Asaichi Street fire spread from one location due to multiple unexpected events and miscalculations February 1st at 8:58am
More than 200 buildings and an area of approximately 50,000 square meters were destroyed in a fire that occurred during the Noto Peninsula earthquake on Asaichi Street, a tourist attraction in Wajima City, Ishikawa Prefecture.
The fire started in one place and quickly spread, killing many residents. Why did the fire spread and the lives of the residents could not be saved?
As we investigated the fire, we discovered that there were a number of unforeseen circumstances and miscalculations that were hindering firefighting efforts.
(Kanazawa Broadcasting Station reporter Masashi Takemura)
*This news will be broadcast on "News Watch 9" from 9:00 pm on February 1st.
Approaching flames: "I'm sorry, but I'll run away."
Hiroki Shimizu (46) was returning home when his parents' home was right next to Asaichi Street.
His relaxing New Year's Day was spent with his father, Hiroaki (73), and his mother, Kikue (75).
He was eating cake and congratulating Kikue, who celebrated his birthday two days ago.
Just after 4 p.m., earthquakes of magnitude 4 and magnitude 7 occurred one after another in Wajima City.
After the first tremor, Shimizu thought, ``There might be a tsunami,'' so he headed to his car parked in the parking lot.
At that time, a second strong tremor occurred, and the first floor of his parents' house was completely crushed and collapsed.
``Where are my parents?''
Mr. Shimizu asked towards his parents' home, which had completely changed.
Then, her mother replied, ``She's safe.''
However, her mother is nowhere to be seen.
She had been left behind on the collapsed first floor.
She wanted to help, but it was impossible for her to rescue her invisible mother on her own.
The flames of a nearby fire were approaching.
Should I stay behind to rescue my parents, or should I run away?
After much conflict, Shimizu tells her mother:
She said, ``I'm sorry, but I'm going to run away.'' Her
mother replied, ``I understand.''
This was her last interaction with her mother.
The whereabouts of her parents are unknown, and human bones were found at the site of her parents' home, and police DNA testing is underway.
Hiroki Shimizu
: ``Right now, I still can't accept the reality. Even after seeing the scene, I'm stunned.However, I want to mourn my parents as soon as possible, so I want them to be identified.''
Fire spreads from one place to another, resulting in a large-scale fire
The Asaichi Street fire destroyed more than 200 homes and shops, and approximately 50,000 square meters.
Why did the damage spread to this extent?
It was 5:23 p.m., more than an hour after the earthquake occurred.
The fire brigade headed for rescue operations discovered the fire, and around the same time, Takashi Kawabata, the leader of the Wajima City fire department, also noticed the fire.
Takashi Kawabata, chief of the fire department, said
, ``When I was looking around outside, I somehow felt the presence of fire in the sky.So I panicked and approached Asaichi Street, where I saw two buildings on fire.''
When firefighters discovered the fire, it was in one of two adjacent buildings on the south side of Asaichi Street.
They tried to extinguish the fire immediately, but were unable to make any progress.
The fire continued to spread from there.
Fire hydrants cannot be used due to water outage, and river water...
The first firefighters to arrive parked their fire engines south of the fire and tried to extend water hoses to spray water.
A broken water pipe caused a water outage, and the fire hydrants could not be used, so they decided to use water from the nearby Kawarada River.
However, perhaps due to the uplift of the ground caused by the earthquake, there was almost no water flowing in the river, and it was not possible to pump up enough water to extinguish the fire.
Unable to get close to fire prevention water tank and unable to spray multiple amounts of water.
To prevent the spread of fire, it is said to be effective to surround the source of the fire and spray water from multiple locations.
For this reason, in order to support the fire department personnel who rushed to the scene first, team leader Kawabata tried to spray water from the east side of the fire.
The fire hydrants were also out of water, so they tried to use a fire tank that had stored water underground.
However, debris blocking the road prevents him from approaching.
It was a miscalculation that the fire-proof water tank, which was supposed to be usable even during a water outage, could not be used.
Mr. Kawabata moved the area to the west side of the fire and tried to use river water, but as expected, there was hardly any river water flowing and it was not possible to extinguish the fire.
In the end, only one of the first fire engines that arrived was able to spray water, and even that was not enough as it only used a small amount of river water.
The fire is expanding, and water can't keep up with it.
If you miss the opportunity to extinguish the fire in its early stages, the fire will continue to grow in strength.
In Wajima City, a tsunami of more than 1 meter 20 centimeters was observed immediately after the earthquake.
Since major tsunami warnings and tsunami warnings had been issued since the earthquake occurred, it was not possible to go to the sea and supply seawater.
There were many old wooden buildings on Asaichi Street, and the collapsed buildings and household belongings were more flammable.
The fire spread through the debris covering the road, and the sparks danced in the wind.
Kawabata felt that, ``If things continue like this, the city will be in serious trouble.''
Afterwards, the fire department arrived one after another, using dozens of hoses and spraying water from a fire tank located far away and the elementary school's swimming pool.
However, the fire had already spread to engulf the entire city, and the power of the water was no match for it.
Fire Brigade Chief Taku Kawabata
: ``There was nothing we could do to extinguish the fire.I thought it was no good.I could see the sparks flying over my head and onto the roof of the building across the street.'' .I wasn't strong enough."
Firefighting activities using seawater
It was early morning on the second day, the day after the tsunami warning was changed to a advisory.
Firefighters pumped up seawater and began extinguishing the fire.
The fire was finally able to be stopped with the help of a large supply of water from the sea.
By 7:30 a.m., the fire on Asaichi Street was extinguished, but buildings in the area had been burnt down, and the once lively townscape had disappeared.
Expert: ``Learn from the failure to use fire-proof water tanks''
What do experts think about this fire?
Professor Kyoichi Kobayashi of Tokyo University of Science, an expert on fire service administration, says:
Professor Kyoichi Kobayashi, Tokyo University of Science
: ``Learning from the lessons learned from the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, where fire hydrants could not be used due to water outages and the fire spread, efforts were made to build fire prevention water tanks that could be used even in the event of a water outage.However, this time, the fire prevention water tanks A lesson must be learned from the fact that the water tank could not be used.Multiple water intake ports for fire prevention water tanks should be installed in separate locations so that even if there is an obstruction in one location, other locations can be used.Wooden
houses There are densely populated areas all over the country, and if a fire breaks out due to an earthquake, fire departments may not be able to operate, so we must continue to improve the fire resistance of wooden houses.
Furthermore, regarding the fact that they were forced to extinguish fires in areas expected to be flooded while major tsunami warnings and tsunami warnings were issued, Professor Kobayashi said, ``In this case, the tsunami did not reach the fire site, but the tsunami did come. "Many people may have died in the line of duty," he said, pointing out that the government should set clear standards and systems for the safety of firefighting operations.
A fire on Asaichi Street in Wajima City caused widespread damage due to a combination of unexpected circumstances.
Efforts must be made to reduce the unexpected and prevent the damage from expanding.
Kanazawa Broadcasting Station Reporter
Masashi Takemura
Joined the station in 2019 5th year at the Kanazawa station Responsible for a wide range of police, government, and regional reporting