Firemen Winning In Niigata

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30471, 19 June 1964, Page 11

Firemen Winning In Niigata

(N.Z. Press A«»oclation—Copyright)

NIIGATA (Japan), June 18. Weary fire-fighters today finally appeared to be winning their battle to put out the inferno set off on Tuesday when a mighty earthquake hit the city’s oil storage tanks, the Associated Press reported.

Thirty fire trucks, some brought from as far away as Tokyo, were pouring streams of chemical extinguisher on the flames, and by this morning the blaze in one of the largest tanks had been put out.

Fire officials said they expected to bring all the fires under control by tonight or tomorrow morning. The encouraging reports led some 20,000 evacuees to begin returning to what remained of their homes. Tuesday’s earthquake, which spread from Niigata over a wide area of northern Japan, was the most violent in this country in 40 years.

In hardest-hit Niigata, loss of human life was surprisingly low. The main danger came from burning oil tanks. Ninety tanks went up in a roaring mass of flames and oil spread over water flooding the streets, adding to the danger in this city of 340,000. Yesterday, 300 homes nearest the burning tanks were torn down. Niigata’s fire chief said: “If we can just hold on through Thursday, 1 think we will have won.” The official death toll from the earthquake today rose to 25. Earthquake relief headquarters in Tokyo said 11 persons were still missing and 377 others injured.