Nearly 1,800 firefighters and two helicopters have been dispatched to put out a forest fire in southwest China's Sichuan Province which first erupted on Thursday.

The fire, which started on Thursday at around 4:39 p.m. at the border of two villages in Xide County and Mianning County, both located in the province's Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, has burned across 39.6 hectares, or about 98 acres, according to the local authority.

The cause of the blaze is not yet clear.

Liangshan has been a major hotspot for forest fires in China. In April, a devastating forest fire in the region left 19 people dead.

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