Beaver Creek Blaze in Idaho Showing No Signs of Slowing Down

(NECN/NBC News: Jay Gray) - The western United States continues to be a hot-box right now with 34 wildfires burning out of control. One of the most severe is the Beaver Creek fire in Idaho, which continues to grow.

More than 2,000 homes have been evacuated, and the blaze is threatening new communities Monday morning.

There is a lot of tension in this fire camp in Hailey and in these rugged Idaho mountains right now.

These teams have been working for two weeks since lightening sparked the blaze, but to this point, firefighters are nowhere close to controlling the flames.

The wildfire's violent attack on the Idaho high country is being met along the frontlines by an army of firefighters, hot shot teams on the ground and choppers and planes in the air.

"Extremely fast, extremely dangerous fire," says Rudy Evenson, a Beaver Creek information officer.

Twenty-three-hundred families have been forced out by the flames, while those in towns like Ketchum and Sun Valley have been told to pack and be ready to evacuate at any time.

"It's awful,” Edwin Fields says. “We live with the anxiety of our house being burned."

Locals say they understand the risks.

"It's a natural part of nature. It's how the forest regenerates itself."

But they are also well aware, this blaze is different.

"Seeing this fire, I've never seen anything like it. The height of the flames,” says Monte Orchard.

An overwhelming scene is playing out across the west where there are 34 active wildfires right now.

The Beaver Creek blaze is one of the worst and showing no signs of slowing down.

Over the next 24-hours, more than 7,000 homes could be swallowed by the wildfire and more than 1,000 firefighters are working around the clock to try and make sure that doesn't happen.

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