For nearly a month the French territory of Amsterdam Island in the southern Indian Ocean has been engulfed in flames, reports BBC News.
Located about halfway between Australia, Antarctica and Madagascar, the island has seen burning across more than 55% of its 54 sq km area.
Amsterdam Island doesn't have a permanent population but researchers have been stationed there since the 1980s.
Since the fires broke out, 31 people have been evacuated to Réunion Island, closer to Madagascar. And last week French authorities launched a mission to control the wildfires and assess their impact.
The most recent blaze was discovered on 15 January by a scientist researching the atmosphere.
According to a report from the Laboratory for Climate and Environmental Sciences (LCES), it broke out near the Pointe Bénédicte observatory which monitors greenhouse gases, mercury, and aerosols in the atmosphere.
Despite residents' best efforts, the fire spread towards the research base at Martin-de-Viviès. They were evacuated early the following day by a lobster fishing boat, the Austral, which was cruising nearby.
Rémi Chazot, a computer scientist who was based on the island, told Le Monde newspaper the group was "incredibly lucky" that the boat was in the area.
"This boat should have left a week earlier, but it had not caught its lobster quota. Otherwise, things would have gotten complicated."