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, damaging dozens of homes and prompting evacuation orders for thousands of residents, fire officials said.

       The roughly 1,800-hectare (4,500-acre) fire has been burning for days in Ofunato, a city on the east coast of Japan’s main island that is about 300 miles northeast of Tokyo. It had grown by 400 hectares since Saturday.

       Japan’s Fire and Disaster Management Agency said it had learned of the fire on Wednesday afternoon, and that at least 84 homes had been damaged by Wednesday night. Japanese media reports said that police found a man’s body on the road Thursday morning while checking the area. The local authorities confirmed the man’s death, but didn’t give any other details.

       Subscribe to The Times to read as many articles as you like.