Locals in northeast India have been waiting for thousands of years for this bush to burn.
Named Pantheri, the fire in Chandla Kund in the Chandni Grah district of Uttar Pradesh state was first spotted about four millennia ago. Locals have named it Pantheri because of its coloring, with black and grey stripes.
It burned away during rainstorms and floods, and sometimes was exacerbated by drought. In 2011, its smoke became so thick that it covered roads for miles.
“It was caused due to improper cutting of trees,” said the district chief of forest department, Babulal Kumar, according to Mail Today. “When it began, villagers couldn’t access the area due to thick smoke. Soon after authorities set the fire, the smoke would clear and we came to know that it was a fire.”
When Pantheri was first discovered, locals named it Pantheri, the Mail Today reports. Over the centuries, residents cut trees for firewood. In 1987, the fire spread to 150 acres. The blaze was finally brought under control in 1995, local media reports.