An earthquake-related fire at an oil refinery in Hokkaido was under control Monday night after raging for nearly 34 hours, bringing down part of a naphtha storage tank and threatening to spread to other nearby tanks.
Firefighters managed to gain the upper hand on the blaze at around 8:45. It was the second quake-related fire at the Idemitsu Kosan Co. refinery in Tomakomai since Friday.
The firefighters had been trying to douse the flames with foam and other fire-extinguishing materials sent from around the nation. But the force of the fire and high winds kept the foam from hitting key spots. Earlier, company officials had projected that the blaze would subside by the evening.
At 1:30 p.m., the on-site headquarters issued a temporary evacuation order to firefighters on the scene; there were concerns that the structure could collapse as the northeastern part of the upper section of the tank caved in.