Ofunato, (APP – UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News – 5th Mar, 2025) Wet weather looked poised to offer relief Wednesday as Japan battled its worst wildfire in half a century in a northern region hit by record-low rainfall.
The blaze around the northern city of Ofunato has killed one person and forced nearly 4,000 to evacuate their homes.
It has engulfed around 2,900 hectares (7,170 acres) — over eight times the area of New York City’s Central Park — making it Japan’s largest wildfire since at least 1975, when 2,700 hectares burnt in Kushiro on Hokkaido island.
But rain and snow were falling Wednesday, AFP reporters saw, as several columns of white smoke billowed from a mountain where the blaze has been raging.
“Firefighters have been working on the ground through the night to extinguish the fire,” a city official told AFP on Wednesday.
“We are hoping that snow, which started to fall this morning, will help” put out the blaze, he added.
At least 84 buildings are believed to have been damaged, although details are still being assessed, according to the fire agency.
