｢空き家から火｣との情報も 三重･伊勢神宮近くの商店街火災 約半分は空き店舗 隣接する神社ではご神体や神具を運び出す様子も

A fire broke out on August 31st in a shopping district near Ise Grand Shrine in Mie Prefecture. The fire is still not extinguished. There are also eyewitness accounts of the fire originating from an unoccupied building. (Photographer Ryusho Shimono, August 31st, Ise City, Mie Prefecture) "A fire has broken out in a shopping district in Ise City. Intense flames are rising from the buildings." According to the fire department and other sources, around 3 PM on August 31st, numerous reports of a burning store were received at the Meirin Shopping District in Iwabuchi, Ise City. (Nearby restaurant owner) "When I first saw it, the entire shopping district was engulfed in flames, and I couldn't get to the back at all. The shopping district is all connected. If one store burns, it spreads rapidly." At the adjacent shrine… scenes of the sacred object and religious artifacts being carried out were also observed. The fire occurred in a shopping district located in front of Kintetsu Ujiyamada Station, about 500 meters from the Outer Shrine of Ise Grand Shrine. The flames spread to multiple shops, resulting in a large-scale fire that burned down the entire shopping street. At the shrine adjacent to the shopping street, shrine officials and local residents were seen carrying out sacred objects and ritual implements from the main hall as the flames approached. The fire was almost completely extinguished about four and a half hours after the initial report, and there were no reported escapes or injuries. The scene of the fire the following morning… September 1st, the day after the fire… (By Ayumi Shimowada, reporter, around 9:30 AM) "At the Meirin Shopping Street, where the fire occurred yesterday, most of the buildings have burned down." Even on the morning of September 1st, more than half a day after the fire, white smoke was still rising from the ruins, and police and firefighters were conducting an on-site investigation in parallel with efforts to extinguish the fire. At the shrine adjacent to the shopping street, there was no major damage, and work was underway to return the sacred objects and other items that had been carried out. (Local Resident) "The fire was right in front of us, but I thought the nearby Inari shrine would definitely protect us. It was incredibly dangerous, but the shrine was the only thing that remained, which is miraculous. If the Meirin shopping street and the shrine had burned down, we would have lost our spiritual home, so I'm really glad it survived." "It was an empty house... it's a mystery." Meanwhile, a man who runs a clothing store in the shopping street said... (79-year-old owner of a clothing store in Meirin shopping street) "Someone close to the source of the fire noticed and warned us. There were a lot of flames shooting out, so the first person who noticed tried to bring a fire extinguisher, but it was impossible to put out the fire in its initial stages." The man says he witnessed the fire starting in an empty house four doors down from the entrance of the shopping street. Footage taken at the time of the fire shows flames erupting violently. (Owner of a clothing store in Meirin Shopping Street, 79 years old) "It's a mystery why the fire broke out in an empty house with the electricity and water shut off." Nearly half of the stores in the shopping street are vacant. According to Ise City, there are 52 stores in the shopping street, and nearly half of them are vacant. (Owner of a clothing store in Meirin Shopping Street, 79 years old) "All I can say is it's regrettable. If we were younger, we might think, 'Let's try to rebuild,' but that's impossible in another 20 years." So far, the damaged area amounts to approximately 4,300 square meters. For more details, see NEWS DIG! ↓ https://newsdig.tbs.co.jp/articles/-/...