OITA—A “fire whirl” was observed in the deadly conflagration that has devastated the Saganoseki district of Oita city.

A fire ripped through more than 170 buildings and killed one person in a southern Japanese coastal city on Wednesday, with military and firefighting helicopters scrambling to extinguish the country's ...

Firefighters and army helicopters battled a fire Wednesday that burned through a neighborhood in southwestern Japan, killing one person, injuring another and forcing more than 170 people to evacuate.