Firefighters on Wednesday were still trying to put out the wildfire in Ofunato, Iwate Prefecture, now in its second week, as snow and rain offered hope of some relief.

The blaze has so far burned through 2,900 hectares of land — equal to around 9% of the city's total land area — with the central government considering declaring it a serious disaster in order to increase subsidies to local authorities for recovery efforts.

“The fire has not been extinguished due to the long dry weather, strong winds and difficult terrain. However, the weather has changed since today, so we believe that we are heading toward extinguishing the fire,” Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba told a session of the Upper House Budget Committee on Wednesday.

Recent natural disasters that have been declared "serious" include the 2024 Noto Peninsula earthquake and last summer's Typhoon Shanshan.

“Although I cannot make any definitive statement at the current moment, after the situation is resolved, we will begin the assessment process," Ishiba said. "The government will try to take prompt and appropriate measures to provide relief to the victims and to minimize the financial burden on local governments.”

Evacuation orders have now been issued to 4,596 people across 1,896 households. As of Wednesday morning, 4,111 people had been evacuated, or about 13% of Ofunato’s entire population.

Around 2,000 firefighters from across eastern and northern Japan have been deployed to put out the blaze that began on Feb. 26. Aerial efforts to extinguish the wildfire were halted Wednesday due to wet weather conditions.

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Roki Sasaki, who graduated from high school in Ofunato, donated ¥10 million ($67,000) in relief funds and 500 sets of bedding to the city, along with a message that he will “try his best alongside everyone.” The Dodgers team also donated ¥15 million to the city.