Residents View Devastation after Massive Fire in Oita, Given Access to Restricted Area for 1st Time since Blaze Broke Out

The Yomiuri Shimbun

2:00 JST, November 24, 2025

OITA — People affected by a massive fire in the Saganoseki district of Oita entered the area on Saturday and checked the status of their homes for the first time since the fire broke out.

Seventy-six people were allowed into the area, where access is controlled due to the heavy damage caused by the fire.

Residents of the area could see buildings with their steel frames exposed and exterior walls stained with soot, vivid marks left by the flames that engulfed the district in this port city.

An 83-year-old resident said that the large reinforced concrete beam in her 50-year-old house was bent. “I was hoping that my house would be safe. I’m shocked and don’t know what to think about what lies ahead,” she lamented.

The Oita municipal government allowed the residents to visit their homes because many people affected by the fire were unable to check the status of their homes due to the restrictions that have been in place since the fire started Tuesday. The residents, wearing helmets and masks, were escorted by police officers as they walked around the area.

The fire destroyed about 170 houses and burned about 48,900 square meters of residential and forested areas. In the residential area on the Saganoseki Peninsula side, the fire is now under control with no further risk of it spreading. However, there is no prospect of when the fire will be completely extinguished.

According to the Oita branch of Kyushu Electric Power Co., the power outage caused by the fire has been resolved, and power had been restored by 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, except in burned areas. The city announced that the water outage in the affected areas had been resolved by the end of Saturday.

The Oita prefectural government believes that strong winds caused the fire to spread. It is coordinating with the central government to apply a law that supports disaster victims in rebuilding their lives, which allows people whose homes have been damaged in natural disasters to receive assistance grants.

Influenza confirmed at evacuation center

The Oita municipal government announced Saturday that two cases of influenza have been confirmed at the Saganoseki community center, which is being used as an evacuation center. To prevent the spread of infection, the city began administering Tamiflu, a flu medication, to people who requested it.

According to the city public health center, the two patients are both men in their 70s. Both complained of fever on Friday, and they tested positive at a medical facility in the city. One was hospitalized, and the other is recuperating in a private room at the community center.

As of Saturday, 108 people from 69 households were staying at the community center, where a medical team of doctors and nurses makes rounds in the morning and afternoon to check on people’s health.

“I’m worried about getting infected because I’m tired due to the evacuation,” said 69-years-old an evacuee. “I want to be careful and [will take measures] such as washing my hands.”