Japan’s wildfire leaves at least one dead, triggers evacuation of thousands -VIDEO
At least one person has been confirmed dead, and 84 houses have been destroyed as a wildfire broke out Wednesday in Ofunato, Japan’s Iwate Prefecture.
Firefighters and the Self-Defense Forces are actively working to contain the blaze, authorities said on Thursday, News.Az reports, citing Japanese media.
As some areas cannot yet be surveyed, the damage is expected to be more widespread.
“Since the fire broke out yesterday, the fire department, the fire brigade and other volunteers worked tirelessly through the night to extinguish the fire. I would like to once again express my gratitude to those workers,” Ofunato Mayor Kiyoshi Fuchigami said at a news conference Thursday morning.
“Aerial helicopter firefighting operations have been underway since this morning. There is no doubt that work to extinguish the fire will be extremely difficult given the strong winds, but we will do our utmost to suppress the fire as quickly as possible,” he added.
Although the exact details of how far the fire has spread remains unclear, it is thought to have burned through over 600 hectares in the region, according to the city.
Evacuation orders have been issued to 2,114 people across 873 households in the Sanriku and Akasaki districts in the city.
According to the city, 540 people have been evacuated to the seven evacuation centers in the region as of Thursday morning. The city continues to confirm the residents' safety while assessing whether there are further casualties.
“As the government, we will provide necessary support through the information liaison office that we set up in the Cabinet's crisis management center, which will collect information and work closely with local authorities,” said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi. “We ask all residents in the area to continue to pay close attention to evacuation information from the local government and to give priority to ensuring their own safety.”
This is the third wildfire in Iwate Prefecture in the past week, as dry weather continues. The first fire occurred on Feb. 19 in the Sanriku district of Ofunato, which burned 324 hectares. That fire was successfully extinguished on Tuesday. There was no reported damage to buildings, nor were any injuries reported.
The second wildfire occurred on Tuesday in the city of Rikuzentakata, which burned around eight hectares before it was extinguished on Wednesday at around noon. No damage has been reported from the second fire yet and no injuries have been reported.
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