Japan has deployed 1,400 firefighters and dozens of Self-Defence Force personnel to battle mountain blazes that have been raging in the north for five days and threaten to reach homes in the ‌picturesque coastal town of Otsuchi, officials said on Sunday.

Fanned by dry, windy weather, two more wildfires broke out elsewhere in the north on Sunday – one in Kitakata city and the other in Nagaoka, potentially stretching firefighting resources thin as local authorities send personnel to neighbouring...