Residents look at firefighters at the scene of a blaze, near JR Itoigawa Station, Niigata Prefecture, in Japan, yesterday.
Tokyo: A fire engulfed about 140 houses, shops and other buildings in a Japanese coastal city yesterday, injuring five people but causing no deaths, a fire official said.
The military was called in to help battle the blaze, which started mid-morning in a residential area of Itoigawa, a city of 44,500 people 230km northwest of Tokyo.
"The fire has lost its strength. As of 8:50pm, we decided there was little chance of its spreading further," a local fire department official said, adding it would take hours more to put it out completely.
Five people suffered minor injuries and evacuation orders were issued for 363 houses nearby, he said.
A total of 155 army personnel and 25 vehicles arrived in the coastal city in the afternoon after Niigata Governor Ryuichi Yoneyama requested aid.
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.
He said efforts to put out the fire were continuing and officials were still assessing its scale.
"This is an area that has both residential houses and shops, but the fire happened during the day, so we think that many, if not most, residents were away."
