A fire engulfed about 140 houses, shops and other buildings in a Japanese coastal city on Thursday, 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 230 km (140 miles) northwest of Tokyo, reports Reuters.
“The fire has lost its strength. As of 8:50 p.m., 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.
