The National Interagency Fire Center raised the wildfire alert level for the western U.S. to its highest setting on Wednesday. The alert could necessitate the deployment of the National Guard, as well as importing wildfire crews from other countries.

“The resources we have are being stretched thin,” Randy Eardley, a spokesman for the center, told the Associated Press.

Eardley cited a number of reasons for maxing out the emergency preparedness alert, including the number of large fires burning at present as well as the geographic range of the blazes. Dry lightning has caused dozens of new fires in Oregon, Idaho, Nevada and Utah. There are approximately 70 fires in 12 states that are over 100 acres in size.

Between Monday and Thursday, over 1,000 new fires were reported in the West. Nevada crews are battling more than 24 fires, one of which threatened Reno. Oregon’s largest fire had grown to 200 square miles. Utah firefighters are battling two new large fires on top of three existing blazes covering 640 square miles, and California fires are threatening homes in both southern and northern parts of the state.

“We didn’t get enough rain to stop the fire,” U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Jodi Marron said of the northern blaze, “but we got enough to slow it from spreading.”

The center expects conditions for wildfires to worsen in the coming week as dry, 100-degree conditions mix with thunderstorms and wind.

Western Americans can expect fires and other unnatural disasters to persist and even worsen in coming years. To find out more about this subject and why the nation is experiencing weather catastrophes, read “California Disasters Continue—Why?” by Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry.