GENE RANDALL, CNN ANCHOR: Across the West, an estimated 70 wildfires are burning. We have more on the story from CNN's Greg LaMotte in Los Angeles.</s>GREG LAMOTTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Three-quarters of a million acres are blazing away. A firefighter has been killed, four others burned. Resources and firefighters are spread so thin...</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's time to get busy, a lot of work to do today.</s>LAMOTTE: ... 575 Marines from California's Camp Pendleton (ph) are being trained to help in Idaho, and weather conditions may keep them there a while.</s>DOUG ALEXANDER, BATTALION MILITARY LIAISON: Hot and dry. It doesn't look good. The 60-day outlook is not looking for much moisture and more higher temperatures.</s>LAMOTTE: The West is getting hammered. Huge wild land fires are burning in 11 Western states. An acre is about the size of a football field. And so far this year, almost four million acres erring have burned. That's about twice the yearly average for the past 10 years. And the fire season is far from over. This week alone, in one, 24 hour period, 400 new fires were started by lightning strikes. All told, 20,000 civilian and military firefighters from 46 states and Canada are battling the flames. One firefighter lost his life in a helicopter crash in Nevada. In Southern California, four firefighters were burned in the Cleveland National Forest, north of San Diego. Federal officials say the effort is costing more than $8 million a day. And with each new hot, dry day, it may get even worse. Greg LaMotte, CNN, Los Angeles.
American West Getting Scorched by Wildfires