It has damaged dozens of homes and forced hundreds of people to evacuate in the north eastern coastal city of Ofunato.

Over 1,200 residents have sought refuge in temporary shelters such as school gymnasiums, while another 2,000 have taken shelter with friends or relatives.

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.

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,

A fierce forest fire in Ofunato, northeastern Japan, has destroyed homes and prompted evacuations of hundreds of residents. Over 2,100 hectares have burned since the fire's onset. A man was found dead,

Firefighters were battling Japan's worst wildfire in half a century, which has left one dead and forced the evacuation of nearly 4,000 residents. White smoke billowed from a forested area around the northern city of Ofunato, aerial TV footage showed, five days after the blaze began after record low rainfall.

Thousands of residents in Japan were evacuated on Monday (March 3), after a wildfire spread to become the biggest fire in decades in the country, according to a local media report. Aerial footage aired by local broadcasters showed heavy white smoke rising and fires blazing at night from a forested area,

Japan is fighting a forest fire that has damaged dozens of homes and forced hundreds of residents to evacuate in a northeastern coastal city.

Japan is fighting a forest fire that has damaged dozens of homes and forced hundreds of residents to evacuate in a northeastern coastal city. The fire has burned about 2,100 hectares (5,190 acres) of forest in Ofunato since it started Wednesday,