Explosion! U.S. Army Base In Sagamihara, Japan Investigates Warehouse Fire [Video]
After suffering from an explosion, U.S. Army base officials in Sagamihara, Japan are still baffled by the warehouse fire which lit up the night sky. Dangerous materials were thought to be stored inside the warehouse, which delayed the response by firefighters, but no one is certain how or why the explosion started.
In a related report by the Inquisitr, when initially reporting the explosion, U.S. Army base officials were quick to note that firefighters had contained the warehouse fire and no deaths or major injuries had been reported.
“An explosion occurred today just after midnight Japan time at a building on a U.S. Army post, the Sagami Depot in the city of Sagamihara, Japan, about 25 miles southwest of Tokyo,” U.S. Navy commander and Pentagon Spokesperson Bill Urban said. “There are no reports of injury, and base firefighters and first responders are currently fighting the resulting fire to prevent its spread to nearby buildings. These are all the details we have at this time and will provide further information as we receive it.”
A witness to the U.S. Army base explosion compared the detonation to the sound of a major storm.
“I was asleep, and at first I thought it might have been the roar of thunder,” said the witness. “But then there was a sequence of explosions for 10, maybe 15 minutes. A pillar of orange rose to the skies, and the air was filled with the smell of gunpowder.”
According to The Guardian, US.. Army base officials still do not know the cause of the explosion. A military spokesperson did confirm that the warehouse destroyed in the explosion did not store hazardous materials as previously reported.
“The building that exploded was not a hazardous material storage facility. We are in the process of determining the contents of the building. The depot does not store ammunition or radiological materials,” Lieutenant Colonel Kevin Toner said.
Pentagon spokesperson Urban also confirmed this report.
The storage building is not designated as a hazardous material storage facility, as some initial reports indicated,” Urban said in the statement. “We are in the process of determining the exact contents of the building. The Sagami General Depot does not store ammunition or radiological materials.”
According to the Japan Times, firefighters suspect the cause of the explosion may be related to metal oxygen tanks stored in the warehouse, but they are uncertain at this time. The Kanagawa Prefectural Police said the U.S. military will be investigating the cause of the explosion since the fire occurred within the U.S. army base.
[Image via Channel News Asia]
