Hacker News Reader

Comment by Quequau | Hacker News Reader

The number of casualties is horrific and hard to understand.

I'm not a huge fan of anime but I understand that this is a major studio with a long history. So I'm sure that this will have a major impact on the entire industry.

View on HN

Yes. For those not familiar, KyoAni is not a "huge" studio, in that it usually only produces one show per season, and often none at all. They are highly respected due to the shows that they do make are very high quality (the animation is nearly always great, and stories are usually hand selected now as part of a competition). If you want to watch one of their recent series that received lots of acclaim, the show Violet Evergarden is on Netflix. Very hard to understand why anyone would want to attack them.

An attack with over 20 dead with more injured could mean over half of their employees are dead/hurt.

The BBC article mentions many died on the stairs to the roof. Sounds like a locked door could have been involved

Japanese buildings also are massively lacking in emergency exits. Almost no building would pass US safety codes or even come close to it.

Where did you come up with this? Japan has incredibly strict safety regulations and building codes.

The place I work at is about the same size as this office and only has one exit (and that's the main door). Many of the facilities I visit for work are similarly lacking.

Maybe the US really goes over the top, but there are plenty of places where I'd feel pretty screwed if some sort of disaster occurred.

> Japanese buildings also are massively lacking in emergency exits.

This does not sound right. On the contrary, I have always seen emergency exits in Japanese buildings.

Well, many things come here into play.

1) This is an animations studio. Many things are still done by hand - so they have lots of paper, paint, ink, etc you name it. Everything produces toxic smoke

2) Animations studio usually is an open space, pretty damn cramped to begin with and with lots of tools, tables, source materials and other things lying around. I'd imaging it is not the place you will find most suitable for an emergency evacuation.

3) People were going up. So did the smoke. It takes you just a few deep breaths to lose consciousness. It is possible they simple didn't even make it to the door.

There are rumors going about the arsonist jammed/ignited the fire escapes closed before the attack

Not necessarily - dying in badly ventilated staircases is a very common cause of death during fires in large buildings. During a mandatory fire safety training I was told that often it is better to stay in your room, close the door to the hallway (treat it as a fire barrier) and go to the window where the firefighters can come get you.

What I heard / read is that the perpetrator blocked the emergency exits.

And set fires in the stairwells.

I'm a bit dumbfounded about the number of casualties. It must have been a very dreadful attack. Very troubling.

crammed working place plus criminal action generating toxic smoke, maybe toxic dyes and a lot of plastics burning also

NHK News posted a floor plan: https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20190718/k10011997791000.ht...

Not marked on the diagram, but the text says there are two exits on the first floor. Lots of open space though, so fire could spread quickly.

Makes me want to look into other office arsons. Perhaps thanks to orderly drills since childhood our expectations of survivability are way overblown in the event of any serious smoke-pouring fire...

I think I'll spend some time today looking into fire escape masks, maybe even a small oxygen tank etc. to keep at the office... Descending 19 floors is probably pretty dicey with any smoke in the stairwell.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com