Firefighters continued to put out wildfires tearing through forests amid a record drought torching southwest China.

Helicopters dumped extinguishers and fire teams sprayed the undergrowth in mountainside forests in Chongqing on August 24.

The region has been fending off an outbreak of 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, has 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.