The Alisal Fire burns near Goleta, California, on Tuesday, October 12.
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In pictures: Wildfires raging in the West

Updated 5:38 PM ET, Fri October 15, 2021

The Alisal Fire burns near Goleta, California, on Tuesday, October 12.
David McNew/Getty Images

Dozens of large wildfires are raging across the Western United States as the region experiences a historic and unrelenting drought.

Hundreds of thousands of acres have been burned. The nation's largest wildfire, the Dixie Fire, has been burning for months in Northern California, where thousands were forced to evacuate, hundreds of structures were destroyed and an entire town was nearly leveled to the ground.

A firefighter puts out a roadside fire in Goleta, California, on Wednesday, October 13.
Ringo H.W. Chiu/AP
An air tanker drops retardant on a wildfire in Goleta.
Ringo H.W. Chiu/AP
James Grooms looks through the remains of his home at the Rancho Marina Mobile Home & RV Park following the Brannan Fire in Sacramento County, California, on Tuesday, October 12.
Noah Berger/AP
Firefighter Tyler McManigal battles the Alisal Fire in Gaviota, California, on October 12.
Erick Madrid/Zuma
A forest of ashen trees stands in the wake of the Windy Fire, south of California Hot Springs, on September 27.
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A volunteer attempts to evacuate horses to safety as the Windy Fire expands in California's Sequoia National Forest on September 25.
David Swanson/Reuters
Operations Section Chief Jon Wallace looks at the General Sherman giant sequoia tree at Sequoia National Park on September 22. The base of the tree, the world's largest by volume, was wrapped in an aluminum-based burn-resistant material to protect it from wildfires.
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Firefighters spray water as flames from the Windy Fire push toward a road in California's Sequoia National Forest on September 22.
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Firefighters battling the Windy Fire extinguish a spot fire in the Sequoia National Forest on September 19.
Noah Berger/AP
The Windy Fire burns in the Trail of 100 Giants grove in the Sequoia National Forest on September 19.
Noah Berger/AP
A helicopter drops water on the KNP Complex Fire burning in Sequoia National Park on September 15.
Noah Berger/AP