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

Hundreds of residents in the northern Japanese city of Ofunato have been forced to evacuate their homes as firefighters battle to contain the country's biggest forest fire in three decades. The blaze has burnt about 2,

The fire in Ofunato, Iwate Prefecture has forced residents to evacuate since breaking out Wednesday and spreading over a wide area toward the Pacific coast.