Japan forest fire forces thousands to evacuate

Thousands of panicked residents were forced to evacuate after a wildfire in northeastern Japan damaged buildings and prompted the mobilization of military helicopters to douse the raging blaze, local media reported on Thursday.

Aerial footage from public broadcaster NHK showed a helicopter dumping water on one of multiple locations in forested areas of the city of Ofunato in the Iwate prefecture in an attempt to douse the blaze.

The fire has so far burned at least 84 buildings and forced 2,000 residents to evacuate.

Rescuers found a burned body in the area, with police investigating its possible link to the wildfire.

More NHK footage showed the fire reducing several houses in various locations to charred frames.

Kiyoshi Fuchigami, the mayor of Ofunato, described the fire as “large-scale,” saying strong winds from the west helped spread a series of smaller wildfires in the same area.

So far, around 600 hectares (1,500 acres) of land have been burned.

A wildfire previously broke out in Ofunato on Feb. 19 and was largely extinguished by Tuesday. A second blaze occurred in neighboring Rikuzentakata on Tuesday and was contained by around Wednesday noon.

The cause of the blaze remained unknown.

Japan in 2023 saw about 1,300 wildfires.