00:00My family home was washed away, and we relocated to higher ground.
00:06And then this time, the fire broke out right behind us.
00:10Honestly, my reaction was, this again?
00:13Back in March 2011, Ryota Haga was still in high school
00:17when the strongest earthquake ever recorded in Japan triggered a massive tsunami.
00:21It destroyed his family home in the quiet northeastern town of Otsuchi.
00:25Now 31, and married with a young child,
00:28the volunteer firefighter is facing another major natural disaster.
00:32This time, it's a large wildfire that has been burning for six days
00:35and is threatening his community.
00:37As of Monday morning, the fire had already burned through almost 4,000 acres of forest.
00:43Physical fatigue is setting in.
00:45The soles of a lot of people's feet are hurting, including mine.
00:49After all, we're climbing mountain slopes where there are basically no paths.
00:53It's almost like a wall in places.
00:58So yes, things like pain in the soles of our feet are starting to show.
01:02That's one way you can really see that people are physically getting worn down.
01:08Haga says the length and the ferocity of the fire is unlike anything he's ever faced.
01:12He and other volunteers from Otsuchi, along with professional firefighters from across Japan,
01:18are working hard to control the blaze.
01:19They are using fire hoses and handheld pumps to extinguish flames
01:23that have been raging on the mountainsides around the small fishing town.
01:27Still, there is no sign of the fire coming under control.
01:31The 2011 tsunami killed about one-tenth of the town's population.
01:35That worsened the area's long-standing problem of depopulation.
01:38Now, Haga's fire brigade is short of people, and he worries about the future.
01:44If a fire of this scale were to happen 10 or 20 years from now,
01:48I'm very concerned about whether there would still be people of my generation,
01:52when I am as old as today's older members,
01:55to fill the roles those long-serving members are carrying out now.
01:59This is something I'm really worried about.
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