The blaze around the northern city of Ofunato has raged for more than a week
\n OFUNATO
\nJapan battled its worst wildfire in half a century on Wednesday in a region hit by record-low rainfall, as wet weather gave hope for some relief.
\nThe blaze around the northern city of Ofunato has raged for more than a week, killing one person and forcing nearly 4,000 residents to evacuate their homes.
\nIt has engulfed about 2,900 hectares \u2014 around half the size of Manhattan \u2014 making it the largest wildfire since at least 1975, when 2,700 hectares burnt in Hokkaido.
\nColumns of white smoke billowed from a mountain through the rain and snow on Wednesday, AFP reporters saw. More wet weather was forecast through Thursday.
\n\u201cThe fire was like nothing I\u2019ve seen before. It was towering and spreading fast,\u201d said Mitsuo Otsubo, 85, who fled his home to stay with a relative.
\n\u201cIt didn\u2019t rain or snow at all this year… Thank goodness it rained today though. I can only hope it will help contain the situation,\u201d the seaweed and scallop farmer said.
\nJapan endured its hottest summer on record last year as climate change pushes up temperatures worldwide.
\nOfunato received just 2.5 millimeters (0.1 inches) of rainfall in February \u2014 breaking the previous record low for the month of 4.4 millimeters in 1967 and well below the average of 41 millimeters.
\nMakeshift tents were being set up at a city hall where around 270 people were taking shelter, with bottles of water and food supplies spread out on tables.
\n\u201cFires are the scariest disaster, because they spring from one place to another, so you don\u2019t know where to run,\u201d 69-year-old evacuee Fumiko Tanaka said.
\n\u201cI can only hope the fires won\u2019t reach my house.\u201d
\nTanaka and her husband, a fisherman, \u201cfeel the effect of climate change every year\u201d as rising ocean temperatures affect what they are able to catch, she said.
\nAt least 84 buildings are believed to have been damaged, although details are still being assessed, according to the fire agency.
\nThe owner of an \u201consen\u201d hot spring inn voluntarily opened his facility for free to evacuees.
\n\u201cNot being able to bathe yourself on top of dealing with the chaos of life in a shelter definitely wears you down,\u201d 60-year-old Toyoshige Shida, of Ofunato Onsen, said.
\nHe said he built the inn after seeing how people suffered in the wake of a huge earthquake and tsunami in 2011 that killed at least 340 people in Ofunato alone.
\nThe number of wildfires in Japan has declined since its 1970s peak.
\nHowever, there were about 1,300 in 2023, concentrated in the period from February to April when the air dries out and winds pick up.
\nGreg Mullins, formerly fire and rescue commissioner for the Australian state of New South Wales, said this fire and the recent Los Angeles wildfires were \u201chighly unusual\u201d because they were in winter.
\n\u201cIn both cases the fires were preceded by hot summers, which increased evaporation and drying of vegetation, followed by large rainfall deficits that parched the landscape,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cThis is a common by-product of climate change,\u201d said Mullins, a founder of the Emergency Leaders for Climate Action group.
\n\u201cAs the planet warms further we can expect to see fires in places where they have never before been a problem.\u201d
\nAround 2,000 firefighters, most deployed from other parts of Japan, including Tokyo, have been working from the air and on the ground.
\n\u201cThe fact that teams of firefighters are being reinforced every day, and that the fire has been going on for a week, shows the extent of the dry weather and the difficulties we are facing,\u201d Ofunato Mayor Kiyoshi Fuchigami told reporters.
\nThe topography of the mountainous coastal area, with steep slopes and narrow and winding roads, was hampering the fire-fighting operation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The blaze around the northern city of Ofunato has raged for more than a week OFUNATO Japan battled its worst wildfire in half a century on Wednesday in a region hit by record-low rainfall, as wet weather gave hope for some relief. The blaze around the northern city of Ofunato has raged for more than […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":465452,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-465429","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n