Tokyo:
Thousands of people evacuated from parts of northern Japan as the country’s largest wildfire in three decades raged unabated Sunday after killing at least one person, officials said. Around 2,000 people fled areas around the northern Japan city of Ofunato to stay with friends or relatives, while more than 1,200 evacuated to shelters, according to officials.
“We’re still examining the size of the affected area, but it is the biggest since the 1992 wildfire” in Kushiro, Hokkaido, a disaster management agency spokesman told AFP Saturday.
【消防庁 岩手県大船渡市の林野火災に対する消防機関の活動状況】３月１日、緊急消防援助隊新潟県隊が、綾里地区において、延焼阻止のため消火活動を行っています。 pic.twitter.com/k6KhwJIMdJ
— 総務省消防庁 (@FDMA_JAPAN) March 1, 2025
【消防庁 岩手県大船渡市の林野火災に対する消防機関の活動状況】３月１日、緊急消防援助隊千葉県隊が、背負い式消火水のう等を使用して残火処理を行っています。消火を実施した場所から再燃がないようにするための活動です。 pic.twitter.com/rAEiCXs09Q
— 総務省消防庁 (@FDMA_JAPAN) March 1, 2025
Some reports estimated the fire had spread over 1,800 hectares.
Aerial footage by NHK showed columns of white smoke billowing, four days after the blaze first materialised, with military helicopters trying to douse them.
One burned body has been discovered so far, with more than 80 buildings damaged and around 1,700 firefighters mobilised from across the country.
The number of wildfires has declined since the peak in the 1970s, according to government data, but there were about 1,300 across Japan in 2023 — concentrated in the February to April period when the air dries and winds pick up.
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