Overview

• The fallen firefighters were identified as Takashi Mori, 55, a fire commander, and Mitsunari Nagatomo, 22, a firefighter, both from Naniwa Fire Station.
• A colleague in his 30s escaped and alerted rescuers, who later found Mori and Nagatomo collapsed on the sixth floor during interior operations.
• City officials say a collapse between the fifth and sixth floors may have cut off evacuation routes, a possibility investigators are assessing.
• Osaka Prefectural Police conducted a scene inspection on August 19 and, with the city fire department, are working to determine the fire’s origin and cause.
• The blaze burned about 100 square meters across adjacent seven- and five-story mixed-use buildings in the Dotonbori area, took roughly nine hours to extinguish, and left four other firefighters and a woman hospitalized with non-life-threatening conditions.