How the West was burned: Thousands of wildfires ablaze in California alone

Drought and lightning are making for a combustible combination in California. The state is suffering through its fourth straight summer of drought, and this may be known as the summer of smoke.A staggering 10,000 national, state and local firefighters are battling fires that are popping up by the hundreds each week, the majority of which are sparked by lightning strikes from daily thunderstorms erupting over mountainous terrain, which drop little rain and cause a lot of trouble. To put the number of firefighters into perspective, that is about the number of troops the U.S. has in Afghanistan. So far, one firefighter has died fighting California's blazes.As of Tuesday morning, 22 large uncontained fires were still burning across the state, with the biggest and most destructive one being the Rocky Fire located in Lake County, California, about 100 miles northeast of San Francisco. The Rocky fire grew in size to more than 101 square mile, or about 65,000 acres, on Tuesday, taking advanta