Japan's worst forest fire in half a century spreads March 4, 2025

Ground Self-Defense Force helicopters return after dropping water while fighting a forest fire in Ofunato, Iwate Prefecture, on Sunday. On Tuesday, firefighters were still battling Japan's biggest forest fire in half a century. | MINISTRY OF DEFENSE / VIA AFP-JIJI

By AFP - Agence France Presse

Japan's worst forest fire in half a century spreads

On Tuesday, firefighters were battling Japan's worst forest fire in half a century, which left one dead and forced the evacuation of nearly 4,000 residents.

White smoke billowed from a forested area around the town of Ofunato in Iwate Prefecture, according to aerial TV footage, six days after the fire started amid record low rainfall.

The fire also comes after the hottest summer on record in Japan last year, as climate change pushes up temperatures around the world.

By Tuesday morning, the forest fire had taken over some 2,600 hectares, according to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency - more than seven times the area of New York's Central Park.

This makes it the largest forest fire in Japan since 1975, when 2,700 hectares were burned in Kushiro, Hokkaido.

It is estimated to have damaged at least 80 buildings by Sunday, although the details are still being assessed, the agency said.

Helicopters from the Self-Defense Force and the fire department are trying to put out the Ofunato fire, but it is still spreading, a city official told reporters.

“There is little concern that the fire will reach the (more densely populated) city area,” the official said, adding that the authorities were ‘doing their best’ to put it out.

Around 2,000 firefighters - most sent from other parts of the country, including Tokyo - are working in the air and on the ground in the Iwate area, which was hit hard by a deadly tsunami in 2011.

An evacuation notice has been issued to around 4,600 people, of whom 3,939 have left their homes to seek shelter, according to the prefecture.

The number of forest fires in Japan has fallen since their peak in the 1970s, but the country recorded around 1,300 in 2023, concentrated between February and April, when the air dries out and winds increase.

Ofunato had just 2.5 millimeters of rainfall in February - breaking the previous record of 4.4 millimeters for the month in 1967 and below the usual average of 41 millimeters.

Since Friday, “there has been no rain - or very little, if any” in Ofunato, said an official from the local weather agency, adding that it could rain or snow on Wednesday.

Some types of extreme weather have a well-established link to climate change, such as heat waves or heavy rains.

Other phenomena, such as droughts, snowstorms, tropical storms, and forest fires, can result from a combination of complex factors.

Some companies were affected by the forest fire, such as Taiheiyo Cement, which suspended operations at its plant in Ofunato for several days because part of its facilities are in the evacuation recommendation zone.

Ofunato-based confectionery company Saitoseika warned that “if our headquarters or factories become a no-go zone, we may have to stop production”, describing the situation as “tense”.

Japanese baseball prodigy Roki Sasaki - who recently joined the Los Angeles Dodgers - offered a donation of ¥10 million (US$67,000) and 500 sets of bedding, according to the city of Ofunato's official X account.

Sasaki was a high school student in the city, having lost his father and grandparents in the massive tsunami of 2011.

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