Blaze in Ofunato has spread through 2,100 hectares of land, damaged dozens of homes and forced more than 1,000 to flee

Authorities in Japan have warned that the country’s biggest wildfire in decades is likely to spread, after it damaged dozens of homes and forced more than 1,000 people to flee.

Fires continued to rage a week after they broke out in the city of Ofunato, on the north-east coast, with weather officials speculating that this year’s unusually dry winter and strong winds were to blame.