The western wildfire season got off to an early start this year and there's still no end in sight.

Since March, thousands of people have evacuated their homes and hundreds of new evacuation orders are in effect as blazes continue.

"People have things that they've worked a lifetime for and they don't want to just leave it behind," said David Martin, a western U.S. resident told to evacuate.

But to stay could mean the loss of much more than belongings.

"[The fire] was just cooking so I ran down the mountain and there were still a lot of people up there," fire witness Adam Lash recalled.

Across the west, high winds and hot temperatures are fueling already dangerous fire conditions.

Lightning sparked more than 70 wildfires in Washington state in recent days.

"Personnel is very limited," Sarah Foster, spokeswoman for an incident command in Washington, said. "We're still getting resources arriving here and getting them out to the fires."

The National Weather Service issued rare "red flag" warnings for Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming, meaning there is high fire danger in those states.

The governor of Wyoming also activated two state Army National Guard helicopters to dump water on a fire.

"My best friends house is like right where the fire was. It's kind of scary," local resident Josh Gilmore said.

More than eight million acres have burned so far this year.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association just announced the summer of 2012 was the third hottest on record.