Crews Battle Wildfires Raging Across California, Alaska and Arizona

Wildfires raging in three West Coast states have forced more than 1,000 people to be evacuated from their homes this week. The blazes mark an early start to what experts say may be a particularly destructive fire season. The fires are being spread by wind and have been exacerbated by very dry conditions. They have already consumed more than 100 structures in Alaska, and were threatening others in drought-hit California and Arizona. According to the San Bernardino County Fire Department, a national forest outside Los Angeles has some 500 firefighters--backed by air tankers and bulldozers-- battling the timber-and-grass fueled Lake Fire. The fire was was raging across some 1,500 acres--and was only a mere 5 percent contained.