Actual Condition of Damaged Trees by the Itoigawa Station North Area Conflagration

Abstract

The Itoigawa Station North Area conflagration which broke out on December 22, 2016 spread over down town Itoigawa because of a fierce south wind and burnt down the traditional and precious streetscape. The fire spread from the origin of the fire to the north according to the wind direction until the National Route 8 and the Sea of Japan prevented the fire spreading. The congestion of houses had intensified in the fire-devastated area with little unoccupied space. Trees such as garden tree and forest were also damaged. However, in devastated areas including those by the Great Kanto earthquake down to the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake and the Great East Japan Earthquake, few records have remained about the existence and conditions of trees damaged together with towns and it commonly takes place to cut down most of those trees in the process of restoration. Therefore, in this study, it was investigated the conditions of trees in the devastated areas. As a result, total 354 trees were remaining in the burnt-out districts, and the actual condition of remaining trees was grasped, such as the damage is relatively small for trees with low those height.