Japan deploys 1,400 firefighters to battle raging wildfires in the north
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A firefighter battling wildfires in Otsuchi, Iwate Prefecture, Japan, on April 26.
PHOTO: REUTERS
OTSUCHI, Japan - Japan has deployed 1,400 firefighters and 100 Self-Defence Force personnel to battle mountain blazes in the northern part of the country, as the fires, burning on April 26 for a fifth straight day, continue to threaten a picturesque coastal town.
The area consumed by the fires reached 1,373 hectares as of early on April 26 morning, up 7 per cent from a day earlier.
The fires threaten the 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-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.
An Otsuchi resident said he was worried about the damage the wildfire could inflict.
“A fire burns everything down. With a tsunami, you might have something left after the destruction,” Mr Yoshinori Komatsu, 74, said as he watched Self-Defence Force helicopters dump water over fires in the distance.
The only casualty to date has been one minor injury suffered when a person fell at an evacuation centre, Japan’s Fire and Disaster Management Agency said on its website.
No rain is expected in the region on April 26 or 27, but a brief shower is forecast on April 28, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.
The cause of the fires is unclear and under investigation. REUTERS
