Firefighters were Tuesday battling Japan's worst wildfire in half a century, which has left one dead and forced the evacuation of nearly 4,000 local residents.White smoke billowed from a forested area around the northern city of Ofunato,

Fire fighting operations continued after a massive fire broke out in the northeastern coastal area of Iwate in Japan. Dozens of homes were damaged, and hundreds of residents were forced to evacuate. According to a BCC,

The fire, in a forested area of the coastal city of Ofunato, killed at least one person and prompted evacuation orders for thousands of residents.

A massive wildfire has devastated Ofunato in Japan’s Iwate Prefecture, damaging over 80 buildings and forcing mass evacuations. Military helicopters have been deployed to combat the raging flames, as thick smoke engulfs the mountainous region.

Japanese firefighters are struggling to contain a week-long wildfire on the country’s northeastern coast that has spread to become the worst the country has seen in half a century.

Japan has deployed more than 2,000 firefighters to battle the country's biggest forest fire in three decades. At least one person has died in the blaze, which has torched more than 5,200 acres around the northern Japanese city of Ofunato since Thursday,