River Fire in Madera County (photo courtesy of the Madera County Sheriff's Facebook page)
The nation is at its highest alert level with more than 70 fires raging across 12 Western states. Add them all together, and they’ve burned through an area larger than Rhode Island. In fact, officials say the fires are far outpacing last year’s season, and there’s still five months left to go. Madera County, California has issued an emergency declaration for a wildfire near Yosemite National Park. Crews are also racing to control flames near the town of Paradise, which was left in ashes three years ago.