Sunday, July 5th, 2020 at 1:35 am, firefighters were called to the scene of a fire ripping through a warehouse in the central Japanese prefecture of Shizuoka. The warehouse stores sponges and sodium bicarbonate owned by household product maker Lec Inc. The warehouse was empty when the fire took hold. The deaths have been attributed to one police officer and three firefighters.
Photo taken by a Kyodo News helicopter shows smoke rising from a warehouse at a factory operated by household product maker Lec Inc. in Yoshida in Shizuoka Prefecture, central Japan on July 5, 2020. Three firefighters and one police officer are dead after a fire ripped through the warehouse. (Kyodo)
The fire was eventually brought under control after 16 hours during which three other firefighters have sustained minor injuries.
The fire highlights the need for proper safety measures and alarm systems to be installed at warehouses to protect stock, structures and human life.
