A huge wildfire in California is just the latest destructive blaze to stretch resources across the West during a fire season that has been one of the worst in years.
The fires have left some states with thin budgets to scramble to get people, planes, bulldozers and other tools on fire lines to beat back the flames. And that’s with about a third of the annual wildfire season remaining.
According to the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho, the nation as of last Wednesday had seen 42,927 wildfires this year, which burned just over 7 million acres.
While the number of fires is down from the 10-year average of 54,209 as of Aug. 22, the acreage was well above the average of 5.4 million acres, said Don Smurthwaite, a NIFC spokesman. “The fires are bigger,” Smurthwaite commented.
In Colorado Springs, Colo., this summer, about 350 homes were burned in the most destructive wildfire in state history. Another fire in northern Colorado scorched 257 homes.
From Fox News: https://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/08/22/costs-major-wildfire-season-hurting-several-states/