Two forest fires in northern Japan’s Iwate Prefecture burned into a fourth day on Saturday as ground and aerial firefighting efforts expanded to more than 1,000 personnel. The blazes are pushing closer to the residential areas of the town of Otsuchi, where about a third of the town’s residents were ordered to evacuate. * One fire broke out on Wednesday afternoon in a mountainous area of Iwate Prefecture, followed by another two hours later about 10 km (6.2 miles) away and near Otsuchi’s residential area. * Flames are threatening homes in multiple districts, with 1,225 firefighters, including teams dispatched from outside the prefecture, battling the blazes from ground and air. * Helicopters from several prefectures and Japan\u2019s Self-Defense Forces are conducting aerial water drops. * The wildfires have scorched more than 730 hectares (1,800 acres) and forced evacuation orders covering 1,541 households and 3,233 people as of Saturday morning. * Eight buildings, including one<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Two forest fires in northern Japan’s Iwate Prefecture burned into a fourth day on Saturday as ground and aerial firefighting efforts expanded to more than 1,000 personnel. The blazes are pushing closer to the residential areas of the town of Otsuchi, where about a third of the town’s residents were ordered to evacuate. * One […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n