Japan deploys 1,400 firefighters to battle raging wildfires in the north

Japan has deployed 1,400 firefighters and 100 Self-Defense Force personnel to battle mountain blazes in the northern part of the country, with the fires, now burning on Sunday for a fifth straight day, continuing to threaten a picturesque coastal town.



The area consumed by the fires reached 1,373 hectares as of early Sunday morning, up 7% from a day earlier.



The fires threaten residential districts of Otsuchi on the Pacific Coast - a town that lost nearly a tenth of its population in one of Japan's worst disasters, the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.



Evacuation orders are in place for 1,541 households or 3,233 residents, roughly a third of Otsuchi's population.



"Although the Self-Defence Forces are fighting the fires from the sky (with helicopters), the dry weather and winds are helping the fires expand," Otsuchi Mayor Kozo Hirano told a press conference.



The only casualty to date has been one minor injury suffered when a person fell at an evacuation centre, Japan's Fire and Disaster Management Agency said on its website.