{"id":12124,"date":"2026-04-26T19:57:21","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T19:57:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/12124\/"},"modified":"2026-04-26T19:57:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T19:57:21","slug":"wildfires-in-japans-north-worsen-1400-firefighters-deployed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/12124\/","title":{"rendered":"Wildfires in Japan\u2019s north worsen, 1,400 firefighters deployed"},"content":{"rendered":"<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Japan has deployed 1,400 firefighters and dozens of Self-Defence Force personnel to battle mountain blazes that have been raging in the north for five days and threaten to reach homes in the \u200cpicturesque coastal town of Otsuchi, officials said on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Fanned by dry, windy weather, two more wildfires broke out elsewhere in the north on Sunday \u2013 one in Kitakata city and the other in Nagaoka, potentially stretching firefighting resources thin as local authorities send personnel to neighbouring areas.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The area burned by the Otsuchi fires reached 1,373 hectares (3,393 acres) as of Sunday morning, up 7 per cent from a day earlier.<\/p>\n<p>Homes at risk<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The \u2060fires threaten residential districts of Otsuchi on the Pacific Coast \u2013 a town that lost nearly a 10th of its \u200cpopulation in one of Japan\u2019s worst disasters, the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Authorities expanded the scope of evacuation orders to 1,558 households or 3,257 residents by Sunday evening, roughly a third of \u200cOtsuchi\u2019s population.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">\u201cAlthough the Self-Defence Forces are fighting the fires from the sky [with helicopters], the dry weather \u2060and winds are helping the \u2060fires expand,\u201d Otsuchi Mayor Kozo Hirano told a press conference.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Firefighters carry gear through heavy smoke towards the fire in the town of Otsuchi in Iwate Prefecture on Sunday. Photo: AFP\" data-qa=\"BaseImage-handleRenderImage-StyledImage\" class=\"e1gf69pb2 css-6ikqhs e445x7d0\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/44b873ee-68fa-4329-826e-5b210b85ae0e_f67d3284.jpg\" title=\"Firefighters carry gear through heavy smoke towards the fire in the town of Otsuchi in Iwate Prefecture on Sunday. Photo: AFP\"\/>Firefighters carry gear through heavy smoke towards the fire in the town of Otsuchi in Iwate Prefecture on Sunday. Photo: AFP<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Some residents used hosepipes to spray water onto their houses and surrounding foliage, hoping to \u200ckeep the flames at bay.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Japan has deployed 1,400 firefighters and dozens of Self-Defence Force personnel to battle mountain blazes that have been&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12125,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[10226,7486,8,4841,17,10229,10225,6838,9043,10227,10224,10228,3278,9044],"class_list":{"0":"post-12124","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-japan","8":"tag-fire-and-disaster-management-agency","9":"tag-iwate-prefecture","10":"tag-japan","11":"tag-japan-meteorological-agency","12":"tag-japanese","13":"tag-kitakata-city","14":"tag-kozo-hirano","15":"tag-nagaoka","16":"tag-otsuchi","17":"tag-pacific-coast","18":"tag-self-defense-force","19":"tag-shigeki-fujiwara","20":"tag-tsunami","21":"tag-wildfires"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12124\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}