Japan deploys 1,400 firefighters as wildfires rage in the north

Otsuchi, Japan: Japan has deployed 1,400 firefighters and 100 Self-Defense Force personnel to battle mountain blazes in the northern part of the country, with the fires now burning for a fifth straight day and continuing to threaten a picturesque coastal town. The area consumed by the fires reached 1,373 hectares (3,393 acres) as of early Sunday morning, up 7% from a day earlier. The fires threaten residential districts of Otsuchi on the Pacific coast, a town that lost nearly a tenth of its population in one of Japan’s worst disasters, the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Evacuation orders are in place for 1,541 households, or 3,233 residents, roughly a third of Otsuchi’s population. “Although the Self-Defense Forces are fighting the fires from the air with helicopters, the dry weather and winds are helping the fires expand,” Otsuchi Mayor Kozo Hirano told a press conference. One resident said he was worried about the damage the wildfire could cause. “A fire burns everything down. With a tsunami, you might have something left after the destruction,” said Yoshinori Komatsu, 74, as he watched Self-Defense Force helicopters dump water over fires in the distance. The only casualty reported so far was a minor injury suffered when a person fell at an evacuation centre, according to Japan’s Fire and Disaster Management Agency. No rain is expected in the region on Sunday or Monday, though a brief shower is forecast on Tuesday, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. The cause of the fires remains unclear and is under investigation.

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