“Although the Self-Defence Forces are fighting the fires from the sky (with helicopters), the dry weather and winds are helping the fires expand,” Otsuchi Mayor Kozo Hirano told a press conference.
One Otsuchi resident said he worried about the damage the wildfire could inflict.
“A fire burns everything down. With a tsunami, you might have something left after the destruction,” Yoshinori Komatsu, 74, said as he watched Self-Defence Force helicopters dump water over fires in the distance.
The only casualty to date has been one minor injury suffered when a person fell at an evacuation center, Japan’s Fire and Disaster Management Agency said on its website.
No rain is expected in the region on Sunday or Monday, but a brief shower is forecast on Tuesday, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.
The cause of the fires is unclear and under investigation.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/east-asia/japan-fires-otsuchi-sunday-blaze-6081851
