Firefighters used helicopters to put out fires that ravaged a hillside overlooking a beach in Italy.

Footage shows the aircraft hovering over the burning patches of land before pouring extinguishers in Porto Alabe, Sardinia on July 25.

Shop owner Domenico who lived nearby said: ‘It was terrifying. The sky turned almost red. We were scared that the fire could reach our homes.’

More than 20,000 hectares of land have been reportedly razed and 1,500 people have been displaced by the blaze that broke out in Oristano province on July 24 prompting regional authorities to declare a state of calamity.

More than 7,000 firefighters and volunteers have been deployed in different areas and were still battling to put out the wildfires.