Japan's worst wildfire in half a century spreads

Japan's worst wildfire in half a century spreads
By Kyoko HASEGAWA
Tokyo (AFP) Mar 4, 2025

Firefighters were Tuesday battling Japan's worst wildfire in half a century, which has left one dead and forced the evacuation of nearly 4,000 local residents.

White smoke billowed from a forested area around the northern city of Ofunato, aerial TV footage showed, five days after the blaze began after record low rainfall.

The fire also follows Japan's hottest summer on record last year, as climate change pushes up temperatures worldwide.

As of Tuesday morning, the wildfire had engulfed around 2,600 hectares (6,400 acres), the fire and disaster management agency said -- over seven times the area of New York's Central Park.

That makes it Japan's largest wildfire since 1975 when 2,700 hectares burnt in Kushiro on northern Hokkaido island.

It is estimated to have damaged at least 80 buildings by Sunday, although details were still being assessed, the agency said.

Military and fire department helicopters are trying to douse the Ofunato fire, a city official told reporters.

"At the moment, there is no indication that the fire is under control," the official said.

Snow is expected overnight, changing to rain, but the official said he could not say whether it would help extinguish the blaze.

"The poor weather may prevent helicopters from dropping water," he warned.

Around 2,000 firefighters -- most deployed from other parts of the country, including Tokyo -- are working from the air and ground in the area in Iwate region, which was hard-hit by a deadly tsunami in 2011.

An evacuation advisory has been issued to around 4,600 people, of whom 3,939 have left their homes to seek shelter, according to the municipality.

The number of wildfires in Japan has declined since its 1970s peak, but the country saw about 1,300 in 2023, concentrated in February to April when the air dries and winds pick up.

- 'No rain' -

Ofunato had just 2.5 millimetres (0.1 inches) of rainfall in February -- breaking the previous record low for the month of 4.4 millimetres in 1967 and below the usual average of 41 millimetres.

Since Friday, "there has been no rain -- or very little, if any" in Ofunato, a local weather agency official told AFP.

Some types of extreme weather have a well established link with climate change, such as heatwaves or heavy rainfall.

Other phenomena like droughts, snowstorms, tropical storms and forest fires can result from a combination of complex factors.

Some companies have been affected by the wildfire, such as Taiheiyo Cement, which told AFP its Ofunato plant has suspended operations for several days because part of its premises is in the evacuation advisory zone.

Ofunato-based confectionery company Saitoseika warned that "if our headquarters or plants become a no-go zone, we may need to halt production", describing the situation as "tense".

Japanese baseball prodigy Roki Sasaki -- who recently joined the Los Angeles Dodgers -- has offered a 10 million yen ($67,000) donation and 500 sets of bedding, Ofunato city's official account posted on X.

Sasaki was a high school student there, after losing his father and grandparents in the huge 2011 tsunami.

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