3 of 4 Tokyo restaurant fire victims identified; fires claim another 4

Tuesday 24th November, 07:00 AM JST

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13 Comments

societymike at 08:36 AM JST - 24th November

Tokyo's burning!! How do people still die in fires while not sleeping? Are they too scared to function and run/crawl?
nandakandamanda at 08:44 AM JST - 24th November

societymike Try taking a deep breath of gas and smoke and "falling unconscious" as it says above.
societymike at 09:19 AM JST - 24th November

I meant as in, it's a fire, it starts small usually, not exactly an explosion of fire that takes you by surprise. You get the heck out once you see it's getting out of hand. Maybe they tried to stay around too long and fight it I guess.
5SpeedRacer5 at 09:19 AM JST - 24th November

Just curious. It seems to me that Japan has very few fires and fire-related fatalities compared to other countries. Anyone know where I can get data for this? Just assuming that eight people died nationwide from fires this weekend, that is just a tiny figure when you assume the number of open flames in this country.
Miyaratmosphere at 09:34 AM JST - 24th November

Maybe they tried to stay around too long and fight it I guess.

I hate to say this, buddy..but No! Most likely they didn't have a clue as what to do in such situation, they panicked till the fire consumed them. Ignorance played a key role in this accident, back home we would probably jump out of the window to "possible" death though, but then again most people rather die jumping than roast to death. Here, They just can't imagine such situation. I can only imagine these people were running around in circles over and over. Of course 8 human beings died in this terrible incident, R.I.P.
mrsynik at 09:47 AM JST - 24th November

There was a fire in my neighbourhood in Taito-ku yesterday also. What's going on here with all the fires?
borscht at 11:46 AM JST - 24th November

Many fires, as societymike says, start small. And while small let off gases (carbon monoxide) which does the killing as it makes people drowsy and sleepy. If they are already asleep, they just continue sleeping until dead. Then the fire consumes the body.

If they are awake and smell smoke, they might panic and try to put it out. But I can't see how they'd be asleep at 9:00 AM unless they just came off a graveyard shift that ended at 5:00 AM. They might also panic if they find the only exit (as in most apartments/offices/houses) is blocked by flames and/or heavy smoke. But then smoke inhalation did the killing, probably, not the flames.
JonSnow at 12:01 PM JST - 24th November

lots of fires: winter appreoaching, lots of [old] kerosene heaters, water boilers etc, old wooden [tinderbox] houses, far too many net-curtains, houses crowded with things etc. surprised more houses don't burn considering the proximity of one building to another. theres a house nearby to me that has had 3 fires in as many years. wasnt too badlydamaged first time. burnt down 2nd time, was rebuilt and set on fire again; old people and kerosene heaters. not sure what kind of insurance premiums they have now though. ouch.
elbudamexicano at 01:33 PM JST - 24th November

I do not want to point out the obvious but what the heck were they doing at an izakaya at 9 am?? Most of these joints close at around 2 am, sometimes 3 am, but 9 am?? This sounds very, very stupid and here we have the deadly result, drink all night, keep on bringing the yakitori, etc..oops some of the fire has jumped from your kitchen to your curtains, etc..and now you have many dead and injured individuals. I now can only wonder how many of these "death traps" are out there, trying to survive by cutting costs and trying to stay open until ridiculous hours like 9 am?? I hope the governor of Tokyo can do something about this, you know make tougher laws, making illegal to server alcohol 24 hours etc..
Apsara at 02:09 PM JST - 24th November

mrsynik, winter is fire season in Japan. The air starts getting dryer, and more heaters and flames being used. As for the person who said there seems to be relatively few fires in Japan, I seriously doubt that is the case. Get back to us if you find anything out, but this is just the beginning of a winter full of reports of fires.
dolphingirl at 02:19 PM JST - 24th November

5SpeedRacer5: From what I could find, the number of fire-related deaths in Japan is relatively low.

In the restaurant case, it does appear to be due to negligence. Perhaps they were drinking; they had impaired judgement and their reaction time was slow. Who knows? I've never been in a fire but you would think that it would be easy enough to get down to the first floor and get out of the building. Then again, if it spread very quickly, they may not have had time to escape before carbon-monoxide got to them.

In the other cases, the times were 12:35am, 6:05am and 7:50am so my guess is that these people were sleeping and had no chance...

Maybe reminding people of some basic fire-safety is not a bad idea. Especially as winter approaches. Rule number 1: Don't heat your house with a gas stove/heater!!
jason6 at 03:15 PM JST - 24th November

Sometimes these restaurants (especially izakayas), in their zeal to separate parties of customer tables from each other, create labrynthine pathways filled with obstructions (made of flammable materials hanging and standing). Ever try to find the washrooms and exits in those places? How about those ones where they have the only stairs out at the back of the room, next to the kitchens (where fire is likely to start). Think of that the next time you are settling down for that nomihoudai drinkathon..
nandakandamanda at 10:34 PM JST - 24th November

Heard on the news that the fat caught fire, which ran up the Noren and onto the wall hangings, and in a panic the chef threw water onto the burning oil, despite there being a square metal sheet to slap over the grill in case of fire. As he tossed the water, the flames jumped everywhere.