A fire stoked by strong winds consumed around 140 buildings in Itoigawa, Niigata Prefecture, on Thursday afternoon, prompting the city to issue an evacuation advisory and request help from the Self-Defense Forces.
About 740 people in around 360 households were advised to flee because the fire, which originated in a Chinese restaurant, showed no sign of waning even after sunset.
By 9 p.m., however, the blaze had been mostly extinguished, with two people injured by smoke inhalation, the prefectural government said.