Blast rocks U.S. Army warehouse in Japan, no injuries reported

The one-story warehouse at the U.S. Army Sagami General Depot, some 40 kilometers southwest of Tokyo, burst into flames at around 0:45 a.m., according to local firefighters who received a number of calls from local residents as well as being contacted by the U.S. military. The fire was extinguished about seven hours later after burning down some 900 square meters of the warehouse, firefighters and police said. Metal oxygen tanks in the warehouse may have exploded, the firefighters said. In Tokyo, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, speaking at a press conference, said the incident had "created anxiety for residents living nearby" and asked the United States to look into the cause of the blast and take preventive measures. The Sagamihara city government announced that Col. William Johnson, commander of the U.S. Army Garrison in Japan, offered an apology to Mayor Toshio Kayama by phone on Monday. The Kanagawa prefectural police said the U.S. military will investigate the cause of the blast as it occurred within the base premises. The Kanagawa police said Japanese police have no right to investigate in the event of an incident or accident at a U.S. military base or facility based on the Japan-U.S. status of forces agreement. Only if there is damage outside the facilities would Japanese investigative authorities be involved. In Washington on Sunday, the Defense Department said it had received no reports of injuries and did not yet have any details about the explosion. It added the warehouse contained no hazardous materials and there were no munitions or radiological materials in the depot. After consulting with U.S. base officials, the firefighters initially decided not to discharge water at the fire since the condition of the warehouse's contents was unclear and there was no fear of the fire spreading. There are no other buildings around the military depot, which covers some 200 hectares. They used water after confirming there were no hazardous materials in the warehouse. Source: Kyodo