OFUNATO, Japan: Japan battled its worst wildfire in half a century Wednesday (Mar 5) in a region hit by record-low rainfall, as wet weather gave hope for some relief.
The blaze around the northern city of Ofunato in the Iwate region has raged for more than a week, killing one person and forcing nearly 4,000 people to evacuate their homes.
It has engulfed around 2,900ha – around half the size of Manhattan – making it the largest wildfire since at least 1975, when 2,700ha burnt on Hokkaido island.
“The fire was nothing I’ve seen before. It was towering and spreading fast,” local resident Mitsuo Otsubo, 85, who fled his home to stay with a relative, told AFP.
“It didn’t rain or snow at all this year … Thank goodness it rained today though. I can only hope it will help contain the situation,” the seaweed and scallop farmer said.
“I saw a huge amount of smoke rising up and then the fire. The wind was really strong and I was so stunned that my pulse became erratic,” said an 86-year-old woman who declined to be named.
Rain and snow were falling Wednesday, AFP reporters saw, as several columns of white smoke billowed from a mountain. More wet weather was forecast through Thursday.
“Firefighters have been working on the ground through the night to extinguish the fire,” a city official told AFP on Wednesday.
“We are hoping that snow, which started to fall this morning, will help” put out the blaze, he added.
HOT SOAK
At least 84 buildings are believed to have been damaged, although details are still being assessed, according to the fire agency.
As of late Tuesday, almost 4,000 people had complied with orders to evacuate.
The owner of an “onsen” hot spring inn voluntarily opened his facility for free to evacuees.
“Not being able to bathe yourself on top of dealing with the chaos of life in a shelter definitely wears you down,” Toyoshige Shida, 60, of Ofunato Onsen, told AFP.
He 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.
