It's the Worst Ever

A fire-fighting crew of record size battles blazes in 14 states

There is a war going on in the Western U.S., and battalions of men and women from all over the country are fighting it. With water tanks, pumps and miles upon miles of hoses, this yellow-clad army is struggling against fires that are raging through the tall timber of the Pacific Northwest, the grasslands and sagebrush of Oregon and Nevada, the tinder-dry chaparral of California.

Since June 27, some 4,000 separate blazes have destroyed about 1.5 million acres in 14 states, including North and South Dakota, Colorado and Nebraska, as well as Canada. So far this year, 2.1 million acres in...

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