Watch: Rain offers relief in Japan's worst wildfire in 50 years

Officials said Thursday that rain appears to have halted the spread of Japan's worst wildfire in more than half a century, and residents expressed relief that the smoke was gone.

The blaze had raged around the northern city of Ofunato for more than a week, killing one person and forcing more than 4,500 residents to evacuate their homes.

A local fire official said the rain began falling Wednesday following a record dry period, which helped firefighting efforts."Thanks partly to the rain, the situation has subsided to an extent," Ofunato Mayor Kiyoshi Fuchigami told a regular briefing.

"We realise many residents are aching to return home," he said, adding that evacuation orders would be lifted when safety was confirmed. Officials said several columns of white smoke and fire sources persisted during the day.

"The fires haven't been fully put out yet," another Ofunato official told the briefing.

Residents were more optimistic, however. "I'm relieved to see no smoke", one elderly woman told public broadcaster NHK, while a man said he was "pleased that we had rain yesterday".

The wildfire burned about 2,900 hectares (7,170 acres)—around half the size of Manhattan—making it Japan's largest in more than 50 years. It also surpasses the 2,700 hectares engulfed by a 1975 fire on Hokkaido island.

Japan endured its hottest summer last year as climate change increased temperatures worldwide.

In February, Ofunato received just 2.5 millimetres (0.1 inches) of rainfall, breaking the previous record low of 4.4 millimetres set in 1967 and well below the average of 41 millimetres.

According to the fire agency, at least 78 buildings are believed to have been damaged, although details are still being assessed. The number of wildfires in Japan has declined since its 1970s peak.

However, about 1,300 in 2023 were concentrated from February to April when the air dries out and winds pick up. Greg Mullins, a former fire and rescue commissioner for the Australian state of New South Wales, told AFP that this fire and the recent ones in Los Angeles were "highly unusual" because they took place in the cooler winter months."In both cases, the fires were preceded by hot summers, which increased evaporation and drying of vegetation, followed by large rainfall deficits that parched the landscape," he said. "This is a common by-product of climate change," said Mullins, a founder of the Emergency Leaders for Climate Action group.