Emergency crews have been continuously battling a wildfire in Iwate, Japan.

The crown fire, which started on February 26, has destroyed 2,900 hectares (6,425 acres) of land—equivalent to 9 per cent of Ofunato City.

As of Friday, local media reported that at least 78 homes had been confirmed damaged by the devastating blaze after a closer on-the-ground inspection, forcing the evacuation of more than 4,500 residents across 1,896 households and resulting in one fatality.

More than 2,000 troops and firefighters have been deployed across the country in a unified effort to extinguish the fire, using aerial support to spray tons of water on the forest fire, which has been spreading rapidly from one treetop to the next.

The situation was critical due to the challenging terrain, dry weather conditions, and strong gusts of wind.

However, on March 6, the fire finally weakened after two days of rainfall.

Professor Yoshiya Touge from Kyoto University said: 'The weather is dry, accompanied by strong winds in the region, and the terrain is steep. These factors have caused this wildfire to be more widespread than usual and contributed to its rapid spread.'

Authorities noted that Ofunato recorded just 2.5mm of rainfall in February—breaking the previous record low of 4.4mm set in 1967 and falling well below the usual monthly average of 41mm—making firefighting efforts even more difficult.

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said on Wednesday that designating the fire a 'disaster of extreme severity,' which would boost central government subsidies for local recovery and reconstruction, is 'in sight.'

'We will ensure a swift and appropriate response so that disaster victims can feel at ease and the financial burden on the local government is minimised.'

On Thursday, the Prime Minister announced that victims of the forest fire in Ofunato City would be covered by an existing law aimed at helping disaster victims rebuild their lives. It would offer up to 3 million yen (approximately 15,744 GBP) to those whose houses were damaged by the fire.

Japanese baseball prodigy Roki Sasaki of the Los Angeles Dodgers has reportedly donated 10 million yen (52,810 GBP) and 500 sets of bedding to support those affected.

The Ofunato wildfire is the largest in decades, surpassing the 1975 blaze in Kushiro, Hokkaido, which burned 2,700 hectares.