Dhaka, Aug. 23 -- Thousands of fires are ravaging the Amazon rainforest in Brazil - the most intense blazes for almost a decade, reports BBC.

The northern states of Roraima, Acre, Rondonia and Amazonas as well as Mato Grosso do Sul have been particularly badly affected.

However, images purported to be of the fires - including some shared under the hashtag #PrayforAmazonas - have been shown to be decades old or not even in Brazil.

So what's actually happening and how bad are the fires?

There have been a lot of fires this year

Brazil's Amazon rainforest has seen a record number of fires in 2019, Brazilian space agency data suggests.

The National Institute for Space Research (Inpe) says its satellite data shows an 85% increase on the s...