TOKYO, March 1 (Xinhua) -- Over 100 more households in the northeastern Japanese prefecture of Iwate were ordered to evacuate on Saturday as a wildfire continued to spread, local media reported.

The Iwate Prefecture government issued a new evacuation order for 333 people from 141 homes, adding to the more than 4,000 residents in around 1,900 households already told to abandon their homes, Kyodo News reported.

As of 6 a.m. local time Saturday, the fire that started in the Akasakicho district of the Iwate Prefecture city of Ofunato on Wednesday afternoon has burned approximately 1,400 hectares of land, up from around 1,200 hectares announced a day before, the report said.

A total of 1,033 people were reportedly taking shelter at evacuation centers in the city.

Six Self-Defense Force helicopters have now joined efforts by around a dozen prefectures to contain the fire, which has killed one person and burned nearly 100 homes, the report said.

According to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency, the forest fire is the largest Japan has seen since the late 1980s. Enditem

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