Northeast Japan wildfire spreads, more evacuations ordered
Over a hundred more households in northeastern Japan were told to evacuate on Saturday as a wildfire that has been burning for four days continued to spread.
The Iwate Prefecture government issued a new order for 333 people from 141 homes to evacuate, adding to the more than 4,000 residents already told to abandon their homes, News.Az reports, citing Japanese media.
The fire, which has burned some 1,200 hectares of land in Ofunato since Wednesday, has now engulfed 1,400 hectares, it said.
The forest fire is the largest Japan has seen since the late 1980s, according to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency.
A total of six Self-Defense Force helicopters have now joined efforts by around a dozen prefectures to contain the fire which has killed one person and burned nearly 100 homes so far.
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