Los Angeles (AFP) - Wildfires are nothing new in California. But in the third year of a historic drought, the tinder-dry western US state is battling near-record numbers of blazes.
And the normal fire season has only just begun.
Nearly 7,500 firefighters are currently struggling to douse the so-called King Fire east of Sacramento which has forced almost 3,000 people to evacuate as it rages across an area bigger than the city of Las Vegas.
But while this is fairly typical for an ordinary year, it is far from the first of the season.
"Already this year California responded to nearly 5,000 wildires, where in an average year that number would be closer to 3,900," said Daniel Berlant of California's Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or CalFire.
"There has been a significant increase in fire activity due to the fact that conditions are so dry from the drought," he told AFP, noting that "historically, California experiences its largest and most damaging wildfires in the fall months.
"So we're just now getting to the peak of fire season."
Blazes have been erupting for months. In May, thousands of residents had to leave their homes due to a surge of fires which triggered the partial evacuation of a military base and a tourist amusement park.
