Thousands of people evacuated from parts of northern Japan as the country's largest wildfire in three decades raged unabated Sunday after killing at least one person, officials said.

The largest wildfire in Japan in more than 30 years is continuing to rage in the north of the country. At least one person is reported to have died in the blaze.

A wildfire was spreading on Thursday (February 27) near the coastal city of Ofunato, in Iwate Prefecture in northeastern Japan, leaving at least one dead. What issues are fuelling the German election?

Flames are estimated to have spread over about 1,200 hectares in the forest of Ofunato in the northern region of Iwate since fire broke out on Wednesday.

Japan's disaster management agency on Sunday requested more fire departments across the country to join the battle against a forest

Nearly 1,700 firefighters are battling Japan's biggest forest fire in three decades, officials said on March 3, as some 4,600 residents remain under an evacuation advisory. One person died last week in the blaze in the northern region of Iwate, which follows record low rainfall in the area and last year's hottest summer on record across Japan.

Japan’s largest wildfire in more than three decades was burning through a forested area of a small coastal city on Sunday after killing at least one person.