Wildfires in Japan’s north worsen, 1,400 firefighters deployed

2-MIN READ2-MIN0ListenPublished: 10:04pm, 26 Apr 2026Updated: 10:34am, 27 Apr 2026Japan has deployed 1,400 firefighters and dozens of Self-Defence Force personnel to battle mountain blazes that have been raging in the north for five days and threaten to reach homes in the ‌picturesque coastal town of Otsuchi, officials said on Sunday.Fanned by dry, windy weather, two more wildfires broke out elsewhere in the north on Sunday – one in Kitakata city and the other in Nagaoka, potentially stretching firefighting resources thin as local authorities send personnel to neighbouring areas. Wildfires spread in Northern JapanWildfires spread in Northern JapanThe area burned by the Otsuchi fires reached 1,373 hectares (3,393 acres) as of Sunday morning, up 7 per cent from a day earlier.Homes at riskThe ⁠fires threaten residential districts of Otsuchi on the Pacific Coast – a town that lost nearly a 10th of its ‌population in one of Japan’s worst disasters, the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.