April 26, 2026 | 07:37 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Mountain blazes in northeastern Japan continued to rage for the fifth consecutive day on Sunday, April 26, 2026, as of Sunday, burning 1,373 hectares (3,700 acres).
About 1,400 emergency firefighters and Self-Defense Force personnel were deployed to control the fire, local officials said, as quoted by CNA.
The fire broke out in two wards in Otsuchi, Iwate Prefecture, on Wednesday afternoon and has since destroyed eight buildings, including several homes, according to local authorities.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
In 2011, Otsuchi lost nearly a tenth of its population in the country's March earthquake and tsunami, dubbed one of Japan's worst disasters.
Officials in Iwate Prefecture said the latest figure was confirmed by air at 6 a.m. Sunday, marking a sharp increase from the estimated 730 hectares (2,700 acres) on Friday.
The city has ordered the evacuation of 3,233 people across 1,541 households, about 30 percent of Otsuchi's population.
"Although the Self-Defence Forces are fighting the fires from the sky (with helicopters), the dry weather and winds are helping the fires expand," Otsuchi Mayor Kozo Hirano told a press conference, as quoted from CNA.
To date, the only casualty from the expanding wildfire is a minor injury suffered when a person fell at an evacuation center, according to the country's Fire and Disaster Management Agency.
The Japan Meteorological Agency forecasts no rain on Sunday and Monday in the region, but a brief shower is expected Tuesday.
Last year, a major wildfire in Ofunato, also in Iwate Prefecture, burned about 3,370 hectares (8,000 acres) from late February before being extinguished in early April.
Read: Japan: Raging Wildfires Cause Mass Evacuations
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