In California, about two dozen major wildfires are now raging in a year that already has seen 2.2 million acres charred. That's a record for California for one year, and four months remain in the fire season, Cal Fire said.

In Oregon, at least 14 large fires burned Wednesday, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. The governor says some situations have been dire enough to make even firefighters retreat.

In Washington state, more acres were burned Monday than were charred in the past 12 fire seasons, Gov. Jay Inslee said, and dry conditions continue to fuel the blazes. In one eastern Washington town, flames destroyed more than 80% of homes and public infrastructure.

For the United States as a whole, the number of fires recorded and the acreage burned in 2020 are below the 10-year average for the same period, according to National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) . A total of 41,147 fires have been reported so far this year, while the average number of fires through September 9 over the last 10 years is 43,915, the NIFC says.