Iwate [Japan], March 5 (HBTV): A massive wildfire in northeastern Japan has expanded, burning over 2,100 hectares since last week and putting more homes at risk, Kyodo News reported.

According to Kyodo News on Tuesday, the fire in Ofunato, Iwate Prefecture, has forced residents to evacuate as it spreads over a wide area toward the Pacific coast.

Kyodo News reported that Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba pledged during a parliamentary session to ‘deploy all firefighting and Self-Defense Forces (SDF) capabilities to prevent people's homes from being impacted.’

Firefighters recruited from across the country, along with SDF aircraft, continued to battle the blaze after successfully preventing the flames from reaching residential areas of Ofunato on Sunday, Kyodo News said.

According to Kyodo News, the wildfire is the largest in Japan since the late 1980s, as per the Fire and Disaster Management Agency.

On Sunday, Japan's disaster management agency requested additional fire departments across the country to assist in battling the forest fire, which has continued to spread in Iwate Prefecture.

Notably, nearly 1,700 firefighters from about 450 departments nationwide had already joined efforts to control the blaze, which has been burning for five days since Wednesday in Ofunato, according to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency. The agency has now asked the governments of Hokkaido and Yokohama City to dispatch more firefighters to the affected region.

As per Kyodo News, firefighters, with aerial support from helicopters, including those of the SDF, have managed to prevent the flames from spreading toward Ofunato’s residential areas along the Pacific coast. However, nearly 1,800 hectares of land had been burned as of Sunday, marking an increase of 400 hectares since the previous day.

A statement issued by the Japanese Prime Minister's Office on Friday confirmed that Prime Minister Ishiba convened a ministerial meeting regarding the forest fire in Ofunato, Iwate Prefecture.

Expressing his ‘heartfelt sympathy to all those affected by this disaster,’ Ishiba stated that the government had deployed an Emergency Fire Response Team and dispatched Self-Defense Force (SDF) units for disaster relief operations.

He also announced the establishment of an emergency response office within the crisis management center at the Prime Minister’s Office, which will focus on ensuring the safety of local residents by collecting and coordinating disaster-related information and emergency measures in collaboration with relevant organizations.

The Prime Minister further stated that he had instructed the Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications and the Minister of Defence to ‘continue to commit necessary SDF units and make all possible efforts in their firefighting operations, with firefighters and the SDF acting as one, so that the fire is extinguished at the earliest possible time.’

Additionally, Ishiba highlighted the government’s rehabilitation efforts, particularly for those whose residences were damaged by the fire. He noted that coordination has already begun for the provision of emergency temporary housing.

(ANI)