Photos: Wildfires burn in Colorado and Texas
An air tanker drops water on the NCAR Fire on March 26 as it burns in the foothills south of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado.
Helen H. Richardson/Denver Post/Getty Images

In pictures: Wildfires burn in Colorado and Texas

Updated 1644 GMT (0044 HKT) March 30, 2022

An air tanker drops water on the NCAR Fire on March 26 as it burns in the foothills south of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado.
Helen H. Richardson/Denver Post/Getty Images

It has already been a dreadful year for wildfires.

More than 14,781 separate wildfires have scorched over half a million acres as of this week, according to the National Interagency Fire Center, the largest number of fires year-to-date the agency has recorded in the past decade.

But many of these recent fires haven't been igniting in California or the Pacific Northwest, which have endured several devastating fire seasons in a row. They've been popping up in places like Colorado and Texas, and they have burned hundreds of thousands of acres in the past few weeks alone.

Scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted drought conditions would expand eastward this spring and worsen in some locations, heightening the chance for more fires, with forecasters warning that the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles and southwest Kansas face the most dangerous conditions.

Brian Oliver, chief of the Wildland Fire Division in Boulder, gives an update on the NCAR Fire on March 28.
RJ Sangosti/The /Denver Post/Getty Images
A Boulder home that was destroyed in the Marshall Fire last year sits in ruins as the NCAR Fire burns in the distance on March 26.
Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images
People in Boulder watch the NCAR Fire on March 26.
Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images
An air tanker works in Boulder on March 26.
Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images
Firefighters head into the woods in Boulder as the NCAR Fire burns on March 27.
Helen H. Richardson/Denver Post/Getty Images
Cattle graze in western Texas' Eastland County as the Eastland Complex Fire burns on March 19.
Rebecca Slezak/AP
A tree goes up in flames as the NCAR Fire burns in Boulder on March 26.
Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images
Angela Maltby holds an American flag and salutes while attending the funeral procession for Eastland Sheriff's Deputy Barbara Fenley, who died while helping people escape a wildfire.
Ronald W. Erdrich/AP
An honor guard carries Fenley's casket in Cisco, Texas, on March 23.
Ronald W. Erdrich/AP
A wildfire lights up the night sky in central Texas on March 18.
Texas A&M Forest Service
Firefighters battle the NCAR Fire in Boulder on March 26.
Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images
Seth Griffin sorts through the ashes of his mother's home in Carbon, Texas, on March 19. He was searching for coins they collected together.
Rebecca Slezak/AP