Rain, snow offer hope in Japan’s worst wildfire in 50 years

OFUNATO, Japan - Japan battled its worst wildfire in half a century on March 5 in a region hit by record-low rainfall, although wet weather gave hope for some relief.

The blaze around the northern city of Ofunato in the Iwate region has raged for more than a week, killing one person and forcing nearly 4,000 residents to evacuate their homes.

It has engulfed about 2,900ha – around half the size of Manhattan – making it the largest wildfire since at least 1975, when 2,700ha was razed in Hokkaido.

Columns of white smoke billowed from a mountain through the rain and snow on March 5, AFP reporters saw. More wet weather was forecast through March 6.

“The fire was like nothing I’ve seen before. It was towering and spreading fast,” said Mr Mitsuo Otsubo, 85, who fled his home to stay with a relative.

“It didn’t rain or snow at all this year... Thank goodness, it rained today, though. I can only hope it will help contain the situation,” the seaweed and scallop farmer told AFP.

Japan

endured its hottest summer on record in 2024

as climate change pushes up temperatures worldwide.

Ofunato had just 2.5mm of rainfall in February – breaking the previous record low of 4.4mm for the month in 1967 and falling well below the usual average of 41mm.

‘Don’t know where to run’ 

Makeshift tents were being set up at a city hall where around 270 people were taking shelter, with bottles of water and food supplies spread out on tables.

“Fires are the scariest disaster, because they spring from one place to another, so you don’t know where to run,” said 69-year-old evacuee Fumiko Tanaka. “I can only hope the fires won’t reach my house.”

Ms Tanaka and her husband, a fisherman, “feel the effect of climate change every year” as rising ocean temperatures affect what they are able to catch, she said.

At least 84 buildings are believed to have been damaged, although details are still being assessed, the fire agency said.

The owner of a hot spring inn voluntarily opened his facility for free to evacuees. Mr Toyoshige Shida, 60, from Ofunato Onsen, told AFP: “Not being able to bathe yourself, on top of dealing with the chaos of life in a shelter, definitely wears you down.”

He said he built the inn after seeing how people suffered in the wake of the huge earthquake and tsunami in 2011 that killed at least 340 people in Ofunato alone.

Dry weather

The number of wildfires in Japan has declined since the 1970s peak, but there were about 1,300 in 2023, concentrated in the February-April period when the air dries out and winds pick up.

Mr Greg Mullins, a former fire and rescue commissioner for the Australian state of New South Wales, told AFP that the Japan fire and recent Los Angeles wildfires were “highly unusual” because they were in winter.

“In both cases, the fires were preceded by hot summers, which increased evaporation and drying of vegetation, followed by large rainfall deficits that parched the landscape.

“This is a common by-product of climate change that is being seen worldwide,” added Mr Mullins, a founder of the Emergency Leaders for Climate Action group.

“As the planet warms further, we can expect to see fires in places where they have never before been a problem.”

Around 2,000 firefighters, most deployed from other parts of Japan including Tokyo, have been working from the air and on the ground.

Ofunato mayor Kiyoshi Fuchigami told reporters: “The fact that teams of firefighters are being reinforced every day, and that the fire has been going on for a week, shows the extent of the dry weather and the difficulties we are facing.”

The topography of the mountainous coastal area, with steep slopes and narrow and winding roads, was hampering the fire-fighting operation. AFP