America's West is seeing a hotter and larger wildfire season — stretching from the Grand Canyon to the Pacific Coast.

This summer alone, the U.S. saw more than 46,000 wildfires, scorching over 4 million acres. 

That's above the 10-year average of about 40,000 fires by this point. However, the acreage burned is actually below the 10-year average of more than 5 million acres, meaning many smaller fires are breaking out rather than fewer massive megafires.

"It's Armageddon," said California resident Randall Hoffman. For survivors, the numbers mean little compared to the destruction. "It's Armageddon, it's not very good. Devastating, I think we lost 95 percent of the town."

Many of this season's fires were sparked by lightning strikes hitting dry land during favorable fire conditions. 

Gert Zoutendijk, a public information officer with the Oregon State Fire Marshal's Red Team, explained, "It can start in a couple of seconds, and it's that wind that really makes a big difference."

Zoutendijk along with the Oregon State Fire Marshal Department, is helping oversee the Flat Fire. Satellite footage shows it burning just north of Sisters, Oregon. 

At 23,000 acres, it's considered small, yet no less personal — while fire crews saved more than 800 homes, at least four houses and a dozen other structures were destroyed. 

The largest blaze so far ignited in the Grand Canyon when a lightning strike hit the North Rim. It triggered mass evacuations and destroyed more than 145,000 acres, along with more than 70 structures, including the historic Grand Canyon Lodge built over a century ago.

Zoutendijk said the losses weigh on fire crews.

"It's their dedication," he explained. "They are absolutely devastated when they see structures that are lost, homes that are lost. They see the people."

Nationwide, nearly 18,000 firefighters have been dispatched this year — men and women putting their lives on the line to protect communities and families. Most travel long distances and work roughly 14-day shifts before being replaced.

"Firefighter safety is number one," Zoutendijk said. "We have structural firefighters, wildland firefighters — but when we're together, the people that are protecting their homes and out there fighting this fire, they don't know the difference. We're out there as one big team with the same mission and same goals."

Washington's 2026 budget proposal sets aside $3.7 billion for a new federal wildland fire service and makes pay raises for crews permanent. 

But deep federal spending cuts and a government spending freeze have stalled prevention projects and shrunk staffing across the Forest Service and national parks. 

Critics warn that means fire crews are being asked to do more with less – and for specially trained red card firefighters on the front lines, it's especially concerning.