Footage shows a fire fighting helicopter dumping water on a mountain blaze in China.

The chopper was battling the wildfires on a mountain in the Fuling district on Chongqing, August 19 amid soaring summer temperatures.

Officials said the fire started the day before and spread rapidly before they were able to extinguish the inferno and the residual fires on the scorched land.

The region has been battling wildfires since August 17, with more than 1,500 residents evacuated. Chongqing authorities claim there have been no casualties so far.

Dry conditions and temperatures caused by a prolonged heatwave are believed to have triggered the fires.

China on Friday, August 19, issued a rare drought alert, raising a yellow warning - the third highest in the country's four-tier scale - as officials scramble to put out wildfires and salvage crops from the blistering heatwave in southwestern provinces.