Nov 05 (Japan Times) - Two huts were destroyed by fire Monday near the traditional thatched farmhouses of Shirakawa-go village in Gifu Prefecture that are registered as a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site, the Gifu Prefectural Police said.
The police received an emergency call from a local resident at around 2:40 p.m. The fire was extinguished after about two hours and no injuries were reported, they said.
The police opened an investigation into the cause of the fire. The huts were located in a parking lot roughly 400 meters from the village center. Many tourists were in the parking lot at the time of the fire.
To keep the fire from spreading to the farmhouses, local residents used 59 water dischargers installed in the village to spray water on the thatched roofs.
Source: ANNnewsCH
