THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
January 23, 2023 at 15:31 JST
KOBE--An apartment building that provided a safe haven for elderly individuals with no other recourse turned deadly in an early morning fire on Jan. 22 that killed four men.
Four others were taken to a hospital. Three of them were unconscious and the other was seriously injured.
Kaoru Hashimoto, 69, who heads the incorporated nonprofit organization “Kobe no fuyu wo sasaeru kai” (association for winter support in Kobe), said that people were able to reside in the apartment building in Hyogo Ward where the fire broke out without a guarantor.
“It was one of the buildings that have accepted (people in need) as a safety net," he said. "It was precious to them.”
A male resident called firefighters at around 1:40 a.m. in the morning to report flames rising from the three-story building.
Thirty-one fire trucks rushed to the scene. Firefighters extinguished the blaze in about an hour, but the fire burned a total of around 30 square meters of the first and second floors of the building.
The four men who died were aged between 77 and 86. They all lived alone on the first floor, according to Hyogo prefectural police.
Two of them were found in their rooms and the others were found in the corridor.
The other four who were taken to a hospital were rescued from the first floor and are believed to have been living in the building, according to police.
Police said around 30 people were living at the apartment house, which has 31 rooms. Many were elderly people who lived alone.
A resident said people using wheelchairs were also living on the first floor, which was heavily burned in the blaze. Prefectural police are investigating the origin and cause of the fire jointly with the Kobe municipal fire department.
The apartment building, built with reinforced concrete, was constructed in 1963 and has a floor space of around 300 square meters, according to a building registry book.
It is located about one kilometer southwest of JR Kobe Station. The area is surrounded by houses and a shopping street.
The apartment has been accepting people in need and those living on the street.
Hashimoto said his organization has been helping hundreds of people in need to move into the building and similar housing in the neighborhood.
The organization has been providing counseling and support to those who lost their homes or are in need after it was established following the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake.
It says that those who accept help are trying to rebuild their lives while receiving welfare benefits.
Hashimoto visited the charred apartment building during the day following the blaze.
“I’m very sad about the fire,” he said.
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Firefighters converge on an apartment building in Kobe’s Hyogo Ward on Jan. 22 where a fire broke out in the early morning hours, killing four elderly residents. (Masahide Miyajima)
