A follow-up to the car fire in Atsugi, Kanagawa, Japan where over 100 cars burnt down on August 20, 2023.
The fire department investigations have pinpointed that the fire started from underneath the engine of a diesel car. There is a witness, and also a recording from a nearby car’s drive recorder, that helped the investigation.
Here is some published reporting (there are also other reports that have some different details). As Forest pointed out above, there are around 1000 car fires a year in Japan, a country with 120 million inhabitants. It is also a fact that the geographical area of Japan is limited in relation to the population, and that it is a very mountainous country as well. This means that the population (and the space to use/park cars) is limited, so everything is kind of squeezed together.
Some years ago, I personally had a car fire in my own car on the street, and I also participated in the investigation process to find the exact cause. (See my previous post.) I am really impressed by the Japanese fire department investigators and their know-how and thoroughness.
JAPANESE NEWS ARTICLE (Aug 22, 2023)
20日午後、厚木市のパチンコ店の立体駐車場で火災があり、3916平方mが焼けました。
駐車場の車は152台が燃え、消防によりますと、2階に駐車されていたディーゼル車のエンジンの下から火が出たことがわかりました。この車の運転手への聞き取りと、周辺のドライブレコーダーの映像などから、車を停めて15分から30分で火が出たということです。当時は、2階の157台ある駐車スペースに155台が停まっていました。
消防は、自動車に使われている樹脂が燃えたことで周辺の車に燃え広がったと見ています。なお、火が出た直接の原因はわかっていません。
Google Translation:
On the afternoon of the 20th, there was a fire in the multi-story parking lot of a pachinko parlor in Atsugi City, burning 3,916 square meters.
152 cars in the parking lot were on fire, and firefighters found that the fire broke out from under the engine of a diesel car parked on the second floor. According to interviews with the driver of this car and footage from the drive recorder in the area, the fire broke out 15 to 30 minutes after the car was parked. At that time, 155 cars were parked in the 157 parking spaces on the second floor.
Firefighters believe that the fire spread to nearby cars due to the burning of the resin used in the car. The direct cause of the fire is unknown.
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Forgot to mention that my car that burnt was a famous German ICE (gasoline/petrol), and that in recent months the same German brand’s diesel cars are being recalled (world-wide) because they are prone to cause fires. However, I realize that cars causing fires are not limited to one brand and not even one manufacturing country. Neither is it limited to ICE vs BEV, while it does seem that BEV fires involving lithium batteries are particularly persistent and nasty.
is under investigation.
