Ofunato Wildfire Consumes 2,100 Hectares; Nation’s Largest Forest Fire Since 1989

The Yomiuri Shimbun

17:15 JST, March 3, 2025

A wildfire in Ofunato, Iwate Prefecture, continued for a sixth day on Monday, with the burnt area increasing by 300 hectares to a total of around 2,100 hectares.

A total of 4,596 people from 1,896 households in the city were instructed to evacuate, and 3,661 of them — around 11% of the city’s population — did so.

With no end to the fire in sight, residents anxiously watched smoke rising from the forest in the morning.

The prefecture announced that 19 helicopters, including eight Self-Defense Force helicopters, were to be dispatched Monday. Firefighters on the ground were to continue efforts to extinguish the fire.

As of 7 a.m. Monday, 1,197 people had taken shelter in 12 centers, and 2,464 had sheltered at relatives’ homes or elsewhere, according to the Ofunato city government.

The wildfire has become the nation’s largest forest fire since 1989. More than twice the 1,030 hectares that were burned in the 1992 fire in Kushiro, Hokkaido, have been affected, according to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency. More than 80 houses and buildings are said to have burned.