To date this year, more than $1 billion has already been spent battling the 33,000 fires that resulted in 5,300 square miles of damage. The national wildfire preparedness level is the highest it’s been in 5 years.

Many don’t realize the extent to which the U.S. must deal with wildfires. In 2012, federal agencies spent $1.9 billion trying to contain and extinguish fires, especially those in the western United States. To date this year, more than $1 billion has been spent battling 33,000 fires that resulted in 5,300 square miles of damage.

The national wildfire preparedness level is the highest it’s been in 5 years and resources to fight the blazes and evacuate at-risk areas are continuously being exhausted. More than 50 fires still rage across the U.S., some of the largest ones in California, Idaho, Oregon, and Montana.

The National Interagency Fire Center says wildfires in central Idaho currently top the priority list.

The fire center’s assistant director of operations, Steve Gage, says that they do their best to prioritize, sending crews and equipment to areas where the risk to human beings and property loss is greatest as well as to smaller fires that can be put out before they get out of control.

This wildfire season has claimed not only a significant number of homes and other property, but most tragically, the lives of dozens of firefighters.