Rain Brings Hope as Japan Battles Unprecedented Wildfire in Ofunato

Firefighters received rain and snow relief on March 5th which marked it as Japan’s worst blaze since 1975. After a fire destroyed 2840 hectares near Ofunato in Iwate officials evacuated 4000 residents and one building was destroyed along with one human life.

Raid conditions in February caused wildfire damage that outmatch all other blazes from 1975 onward because Ofunato measured just 2.5mm rainfall whereas the usual monthly total reaches 41mm. Fighting crews from all over Japan and Tokyo assist in extinguishing the fire using specialized ground equipment plus helicopters. The current wildfire damages Iwate more than any other area because it endured the tsunami of 2011.

As a Japanese national icon and American language star Roki Sasaki combined his North America baseball career with sending 10 million yen along with 500-bed sets to wildfire survivors. Sasaki motivated his people after the 2011 tsunami claimed his father’s life along with his grandparents by living through hardship. The recent wildfire shows that Japanese society now must deal with greater natural environmental dangers because global warming created more damaging fires during this year.