A total of 1,549 people died in fires in Japan in the first nine months of the year, one less than during the same period last year, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency said Tuesday.
Of those people, about 40 percent were 5 and under or 65 and older, meaning the two groups, which comprise roughly 22 percent of the population, are almost twice as likely to die in fires, the agency said.
There were 48,676 fires reported in the period, up 11.3 percent from the corresponding period last year, with arson confirmed as the cause in 11.6 percent of the cases.
Cigarettes were blamed for 11.2 percent, suspected arson 9.2 percent and cooking stoves 8.7 percent.
Tokyo topped the number of reported cases with 5,313, followed by Aichi Prefecture with 3,360 and Osaka with 3,308. Toyama Prefecture had the fewest fires, 205.
The agency said Tokyo topped the list of the number of fire fatalities with 100, while Fukui Prefecture had the fewest, six.