Dozens of forest and brush fires are currently burning across eight western states, forcing thousands to flee, destroying homes, and closing highways. Enormous volumes of smoke and ash are being thrown into the atmosphere as more than a million acres have burned in the past week alone, creating hazardous breathing conditions in many parts of the Pacific Northwest. In California, the La Tuna fire near Burbank has burned nearly 7,200 acres, becoming the largest fire ever recorded in Los Angeles in terms of area.
Wildfires Rage Across the American West
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The Eagle Creek wildfire, burning in the Columbia River Gorge. This view is from Stevenson, Washington, across the Columbia River, above Cascade Locks, Oregon, on September 4, 2017. A lengthy stretch of Interstate 84 remained closed on September 5, as crews battled the wildfire that has also caused evacuations and sparked blazes across the Columbia River in Washington state. #
Tristan Fortsch / KATU-TV via AP -
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An S-64E Sikorsky Skycrane firefighting helicopter flies past firefighters on a smoky ridge during the La Tuna fire near Burbank, California, on September 3, 2017. At nearly 6,000 acres, the fire is the biggest fire in terms of acreage in Los Angeles city history. #
David McNew / Getty -
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Bonnie Murphy struggles to evacuate her horses as the La Tuna fire covers the Shadow Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, in thick smoke on September 2, 2017. #
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The La Tuna Canyon fire burns in the hills above Burbank, California, on September 2, 2017. The brush fire, which quickly burned 2,000 acres, started on September 1 and was being driven by heat wave temperatures and high winds. #
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A crew with California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) battles the La Tuna brushfire on a hillside in Burbank, California, on September 2, 2017. #
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A view from the cockpit. U.S. Air National Guardsmen Major Danny Ariza, along with Captain Nate Southwick and loadmaster Staff Sergeant Garret Gillette (not pictured) follow a U.S. Forest Service lead plane under a large column of smoke preparing to drop retardant on the pier fire southeast of Fresno, California, inside a C-130J aircraft from the 146th Airlift Wing, equipped with the Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System (MAFFS), on August 29, 2017. Air National Guard and Air Force Reserves C-130 aircraft equipped with the MAFFS systems have been assisting U.S. Forest Service wildfire suppression efforts out of Fresno Air Tanker Base since August 10, 2017. Together they have accomplished more than 200 drops totaling 530,000 gallons of retardant this season. #
Tech. Sgt. Jeff Allen, Staff Sgt. Nicholas Carzis / 146 Airlift Wing, Public Affairs / U.S. Air National Guard -
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This August 28, 2017, photo provided by Inciweb shows the Milli Fire near Sisters, Oregon. The two dozen blazes around the state were affecting air quality and have forced the evacuations of more than 4,500 people. #
Tom Story / Inciweb via AP -
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A historic structure on Rock Rabbit Lookout in Idaho's Payette National Forest, wrapped in aluminized structure wrap to protect it from the Highline Fire burning nearby. The U.S. Forest Service sometimes deploys reusable sheets of aluminized structure wrap to protect selected buildings from radiant heat and burning embers. #
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This image from video provided by the Hutton Incident Team shows the historic main Sperry Chalet building engulfed in flames in Glacier National Park, Montana, on August 31, 2017. Glacier National Park's historic Sperry Chalet was lost to the Sprague fire overnight. #
Hutton Incident Team via AP -
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A heavy tanker drops retardant on a wildfire in Weber Canyon, near Ogden, Utah, on September 5, 2017. At least one home went up in smoke and more than 1,000 people were evacuated as high winds fed the flames that started in a canyon north of Salt Lake City. #
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Residents on the 210 freeway try to see if their house and two of their cats on the other side of thick smoke and flames might burn near the community of Tujunga during the La Tuna fire on September 2, 2017, near Burbank, California. #
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People at a viewpoint overlooking the Columbia River watching the Eagle Creek wildfire burning in the Columbia River Gorge east of Portland, Oregon, on September 4, 2017. #
Inciweb via AP -
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Craig Bolleson hugs his friend in his burned out home in the Sunland-Tujunga section of Los Angeles on September 4, 2017. Wildfires forced thousands to flee their homes across the U.S. West during a sweltering, smoke-shrouded holiday weekend of record heat. #
Ringo H.W. Chiu / AP -
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