Japan battled its worst wildfire in half a century on Wednesday in a region hit by record-low rainfall, as wet weather gave hope for some relief.
The blaze around the northern city of Ofunato has raged for more than a week, killing one person and forcing nearly 4,000 residents to evacuate their homes.
It has engulfed about 2,900 hectares (7,170 acres) — around half the size of Manhattan — making it the largest wildfire since at least 1975, when 2,700 hectares burnt in Hokkaido.
Columns of white smoke billowed from a mountain through the rain and snow on Wednesday, AFP reporters saw. More wet weather was forecast through Thursday.
“The fire was like nothing I’ve seen before. It was towering and spreading fast,” said 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 said.
Japan endured its hottest summer on record last year as climate change pushes up temperatures worldwide.
Ofunato received just 2.5 millimetres (0.1 inches) of rainfall in February — breaking the previous record low for the month of 4.4 millimetres in 1967 and well below the average of 41 millimetres.
‘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,” 69-year-old evacuee Fumiko Tanaka told AFP.
“I can only hope the fires won’t reach my house.”
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, according to the fire agency.
The owner of an “onsen” hot spring inn voluntarily opened his facility for free to evacuees.
“Not being able to bathe yourself on top of dealing with the chaos of life in a shelter definitely wears you down,” 60-year-old Toyoshige Shida, of Ofunato Onsen, told AFP.
He said he built the inn after seeing how people suffered in the wake of a 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 its 1970s peak.
However, there were about 1,300 in 2023, concentrated in the period from February to April when the air dries out and winds pick up.
Greg Mullins, formerly fire and rescue commissioner for the Australian state of New South Wales, told AFP this fire and the 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,” he said.
“This is a common by-product of climate change,” said 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.
“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,” Ofunato Mayor Kiyoshi Fuchigami told reporters.
The topography of the mountainous coastal area, with steep slopes and narrow and winding roads, was hampering the fire-fighting operation.
