Wildfires in the West are raging in 12 states, the United States on the highest alert level

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While fire officials said the flames appeared to be rushing away from populated areas into the woods of neighboring Plumas County, residents who lived through the 2018 campfire, which killed 85 people and burned more than 153,000 acres, remained on edge. Bute County officials have issued an eviction warning for small communities in Pulga and East Konko, east of Paradise.

“A few of my neighbors said they’re starting to get their stuff together,” Larry Petersen, whose home survived the Camp Fire, told NBC’s KNVN in Chico. “Everyone is a little worried about it. Just no one wants to go through that again.”

“We get a little bit of PTSD,” Paradise resident Jennifer Yoni added, referring to PTSD. “It’s just about being prepared.”

Elsewhere in the West, the Bootleg Fire in southern Oregon, the largest wildfire burning in the United States, has set fires to an area larger than New York City and destroyed at least 20 homes, fire officials said. It was 7 percent contained as of Thursday afternoon.

On Thursday, Governor Gavin Newsom sent California firefighters to Oregon at the request of Governor Kate Brown, including crews from San Francisco, Anaheim and Alameda County, on an order issued last week.

The Bootleg Fire caught on July 12, 2021 in Bly, Ore. The Bootleg Fire spread over 21,377 acres, making it the largest of the dozens of fires burning in the western United States fueled by record temperatures and drought. Getty Images

Lightning ignited the Bootleg Fire on July 6, and the flames were encroaching on the traditional lands of the Klamath tribes, whose lands lie in Klamath County near the California border. Huge and flaring plumes of smoke appeared for miles.

Tim and Dee McCarley could see trees exploding in flames in their rearview mirror as they escaped the fire last week at the last minute. They have postponed their departure to pack more of their belongings and search for their missing cat.

“The sheriff’s department was there and they said, ‘If you don’t get out of here now, you’re going to die,'” Tim McCarley, 67, told The Associated Press. In a shelter at the Klamath County Fairgrounds.

In total, more than 70 active fires across a dozen states have burned a combined area larger than Rhode Island, according to the Interagency National Fire Center, which tracks coordinated firefighting efforts. The center said that more than 2.25 million acres have been burned since the beginning of the year, compared to 1.7 million acres in the same period in 2020.

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The center announced Wednesday that the United States is on the highest alert level across the board based on dedicated firefighting resources. More than 17,000 firefighters and support staff have been assigned to fight the bushfires, center spokesman Stanton Floria said Thursday.

Last year, the center didn’t announce a “readiness level 5” until August 18, which shows how taxing this season really is on resources.

“We’re a full month ahead of where we were last year – and last year was a historic season,” Floria said.

At least three states – Oregon, Washington and Montana – have declared states of emergency.

Floria blamed record temperatures across the West and a brutal drought, prompting California Governor Gavin Newsom to demand last week residents voluntarily cut their water consumption by 15 percent, for exacerbating extreme weather conditions fueled by climate change.

Fire seasons “last longer. Fires are more intense… We see a sustained level of fire activity throughout the year, but that’s definitely the peak for us this year,” Floria said, adding that the country “has reached that threshold where most resources are allocated Fire-fighting.”

Fire warnings remained in effect Thursday for 2 million people across parts of Washington, Oregon, Northern California, Idaho and Montana.

A combination of low humidity, gusty winds, and dry conditions caused by drought increases serious fire risks, with the greatest chance of new wildfires or the spread of existing fires Thursday afternoon and evening, when the strongest winds are expected.

One silver lining, Floria said, is that the monsoon season has begun in the southwestern United States, reducing the potential for increased fire activity in states like Arizona and New Mexico.

A severe heat wave late last month has dried up vegetation in the Pacific Northwest, with firefighters saying they experience conditions more commonly in late summer or fall than in early July.

A fire in Chelan County, central Washington, is threatening 1,500 homes as well as orchards and a power plant, authorities said. Mandatory evacuations were in place.

Firefighter Garrett Sousa surveys hot spots in the northwest section of the Bootleg Fire in Oregon as it extends over 210,000 acres, Klamath Falls, Oregon, on July 14, 2021.

On Wednesday evening, the Chelan County Sheriff’s Office said in a press release that investigators helped the Chelan County fire marshal and federal fire investigators carry out a search warrant at a nearby home believed to be the source of the fire.

In north-central Washington, about 200 people were evacuated in the Colville tribal lands town of Nespilum Monday night as the five largest wildfires triggered by dozens of lightning bolts destroyed grass, plants and wood. Seven houses burned, but four were vacant.

“The need to act to protect our climate, and mitigate the effects of climate change, is becoming more evident with each passing year and each round of devastating fires,” said Andrew “Badger” Joseph Jr., president of Colville Tribal.

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