(BSS/AFP) - One person was unaccounted for while 175 others were evacuated as a major fire engulfed a residential area in Japan, the local government said Wednesday.

Firefighters were still struggling to extinguish the blaze in the southern city of Oita as it spread to a forested mountain nearby, public broadcaster NHK reported.

Footage showed firefighters hosing ferocious flames as they ripped through houses on Tuesday night, while people were taken to a makeshift evacuation centre.

"The flames rose high, turning the sky red. The wind was strong. I never thought it would spread so much," one man in the city on the southern island of Kyushu told NHK.

"The mountain was burning, the one behind," said another man. "I brought with me my driver`s license and smartphone."

The blaze broke out late on Tuesday, prompting the evacuation of 115 households, or 175 people, the regional government said in a statement.

At least 170 buildings were affected.

Oita prefecture`s governor spoke to the military about potential support, the statement added.

One person remained unaccounted for, while 300 houses in part of Oita were suffering a power blackout, it said.