User:Tessla/sandbox

On 26 February 2025, a wildfire began to the southeast of Ōfunato, a city in the Iwate Prefecture of Japan. As of 3 March 2025, the fire has grown to cover 2,900 ha (7,200 acres), so far destroying 84 structures and killing one person. It is the largest forest fire in Japan's history.

Background

Antecedent conditions

Japan had its hottest year on record in 2024. The fire started during Ōfunato's typical dry season, which runs from January to March. The city had seen the lowest amount of rainfall during February on record with just 2.5 mm (0.098 in) compared to the average of 41 mm (1.6 in): the previous record of 4.4 mm (0.17 in) was set in 1967. Yusuke Yokoyama, a professor at the University of Tokyo's Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, attributed the dry conditions to cold, dry air clashing with moist air from the sea.

Yokoyama also said that the fire's quick spread could be due to the topography of the steep mountains where the fire was spreading. Yoshiya Touge, a professor of water resource research at Kyoto University, said many of the trees in the area were highly flammable conifers which, along with strong winds, was contributing to the fire's spread.

Other fires

Two other wildfires had started in the area around Ōfunato in the weeks preceding the blaze. The first was reported on 19 February at 11:55 a.m. in Sanriku Town, Ōfunato City, reporting smoke in the mountains; it grew to 324 ha (800 acres) and was extinguished on 25 February. The second fire was reported in Otomo Town in nearby Rikuzentakata City at 3:20 p.m. on 25 February; it was put out at noon the next day after burning 8 ha (20 acres), including a small area within Ōfunato's borders.

Progression

A satellite image of the fire taken on 1 March by NASA

At 1:02 p.m. on 26 February the first emergency call was made, reporting a fire in Akasaki Town, Ōfunato City. The first evacuation order was issued at 2:14 p.m. covering the Ryōri area. 15 people had to be rescued at 5:20 p.m. by the Kamaishi Coast Guard after becoming stranded at the Koji Fishing Port. Estimates from the Fire and Disaster Management Agency (FDMA) at 10:40 p.m. placed the number of damaged buildings at 84.

The burned body of a man was found on a road on 27 February by local police. At 4:45 p.m. the second evacuation order was issued, covering the Ōdate, Nagahama, Nagasaki, Shimizu, Takonoura and Toguchi areas. On 28 February at 6:13 p.m. another evacuation order was issued covering the Morikko, Nochinoiri, Ōbora, Ubukata, Yado and Yamaguchi areas. At 7:30 a.m. the next day another order was issued for the Hajimeminenishi, Hajimereitō and Uehajimemine areas.

According to the FDMA, the blaze had grown to over 2,900 ha (7,200 acres) by 5 March. Evacuation orders were issued to 1,896 households in Ōfunato City, affecting 4,596 people in 17 districts. Preliminary estimates from the agency put the number of burned buildings at 84 as 546 teams from 14 prefectures were at the scene, with 2,043 firefighters battling the blaze. At least 16 aerial firefighting helicopters were also in use as the fire grew to become Japan's largest wildfire on record, surpassing the previous record of 1,030 ha (2,500 acres) set in 1992 in Kushiro, Hokkaido.

Response

The initial responses to the fire were made quickly after the fire started on 26 February. The city's government established a disaster response headquarters at 1:33 p.m. which was overtaken by the Iwate Prefectural Government at 3:50 p.m. At 2 p.m., Ōfunato City and Iwate Prefecture requested the dispatch of the Japan Self-Defense Forces to assist with firefighting efforts. The FDMA also established a disaster response headquarters at 2:30 p.m. with the director of the agency's Civil Protection and Disaster Prevention Division as the head; this was later reorganised at 3:34 p.m. so that the FDMA's commissioner general was the head. The prefecture requested the dispatch of an emergency firefighting assistance team at 3:34 p.m. Support was recieved from the cities of Niigata, Sapporo, Sendai, Tokyo and Yokohama and the prefectures of Akita, Aomori, Chiba, Fukushima, Gunma, Hokkaido, Ibaraki, Kanagawa, Miyagi, Niigata, Saitama, Tochigi, Tokyo and Yamagata.

At 7 p.m. on 26 February the Disaster Relief Act was applied, meaning the costs of emergency relief would be the national and prefectural governments' responsibility. The next day the Disaster Victims' Livelihood Reconstruction Support Act was also applied. In 5 March, Shigeru Ishiba stated he considered designating the wildfire as a "Catastrophic disaster" (激甚災害), which will allow the government to reduce the amount of money Ōfunato needs to recover.

Impact

Tohoku Electric Power cut electricity supplies to around 500 households on 27 February in order to prevent any further impacts of the fire on the power network. On 28 February, Taiheiyo Cement suspended operations in its factory in Akasaki Town to ensure the safety of its employees.

Three schools in the city are temporarily closed as a result of the fires. Sanriku Railway suspended all services between Sakari and Sanriku, which was later extended to Kamaishi on 2 March due to a power outage. Rail replacement buses are operating until the evacuation orders are lifted, however they did not stop at Rikuzen-Akasaki, Ryōri, Koishihama or Horei in order to bypass the evacuation area. On 2 March, local fishermen were seen evacuating their boats anchored at Ayari Port in Sanriku Town to Ōfunato Fishing Port. They had to travel there by boat as the area was inaccessible by land due to the evacuation orders.

On 3 March, around 1,660 households were affected by power outages and 840 were affected by water outages. Many roads were closed due to the fire, including large parts of Iwate Prefectural Route 9 due to the fire and part of National Route 45 so that helicopters could use it to land and takeoff.

Reactions

At midnight on 27 February, the Cabinet Secretariat established an information liaison office which was later reorganised into the Prime Minister's countermeasures office at 9 a.m. on 28 February.