Japan is fighting a forest fire that has damaged dozens of homes and forced hundreds of residents to evacuate in a northeastern coastal city.

Japan is fighting a forest fire that has damaged dozens of homes and forced hundreds of residents to evacuate in a northeastern coastal city. The fire has burned about 2,100 hectares (5,190 acres) of forest in Ofunato since it started Wednesday,

More than 2,000 firefighters are battling Japan's biggest forest fire in three decades, officials said Monday, as some 4,600 residents remain under an evacuation advisory.Around 2,000 people have left the area to stay with friends or relatives,

An area of at least 2,100 hectares in Ofunato, Iwate prefecture, has been destroyed by the blaze. At least one person has died.

Residents have been instructed to evacuate, as more than 2,000 firefighters use helicopters and hoses to douse the flames

The fire, in a forested area of the coastal city of Ofunato, killed at least one person and prompted evacuation orders for thousands of residents.