OTSUCHI: Hundreds of firefighters battled wildfires in the forests of northern Japan on Saturday as authorities urged more than 3,200 people to evacuate their homes, government officials said.
As of Saturday morning, flames in the mountainous areas of the Iwate region had burned about 700 hectares (1,730 acres) since they broke out three days ago, local government officials said in a statement.
A large plume of smoke, which could be smelled 30 kilometers away, was seen rising in the valley near the town of Otsuchi as two helicopters dropped water on the burning forest.
In Otsuchi, fire engines sprayed the forest near houses close to the fire.
About a dozen helicopters and more than 1,300 firefighters as well as Japanese Self-Defense Forces troops would be mobilized on Saturday to fight the fires, the statement said.
At least eight buildings had been burned, but all residents had been evacuated, it said.
“We are making efforts to extinguish (the fires) … and will update the information” later in the day, an Iwate official said AFP.
“In the end, I hope it will rain,” a man in Otsuchi told public broadcaster NHK.
Increasingly drier winters have increased the risk of wildfires. A fire that broke out in the Iwate city of Ofunato early last year was Japan’s worst in more than half a century.
Scientists have long warned that climate change caused by mankind’s burning of fossil fuels will make periods of drought more intense and longer, creating the ideal conditions for wildfires.
