The IWATE provincial government has issued new evacuation orders to 333 people from 141 homes, with over 4,000 residents of around 1,900 households already being told to abandon their homes, Kyoto News reported.
As of 6am on Saturday, the fire that began in the Akasakicho area of Tanaka prefecture in Offinato on Wednesday afternoon burned around 1,400 hectares of land, with about 1,200 hectares being released a day ago, the report said.
A total of 1,033 people reportedly had sheltered at the city’s evacuation centre.
Currently, six Self-Defense Force helicopters have joined the efforts in around 12 prefectures to contain the fire.
According to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency, bushfires have been Japan’s largest since the late 1980s.
SD/