Firefighters in the western and southwestern U.S. on Monday continued battling wildfires caused by a massive and lasting heatwave.

South-central Oregon has seen a 154,000-acre fire which has forced hundreds of evacuations. No injuries have been reported. The Bootleg Fire nearly doubled in size from Saturday to Sunday.

“The fire behavior we are seeing on the Bootleg Fire is among the most extreme you can find and firefighters are seeing conditions they have never seen before,” Al Lawson, an incident commander for the fire, said in a statement.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Saturday announced that the state would dispatch firefighters from the Bay Area to assist Oregon.

Fire officials expect the Oregon blaze to be contained by July 27.

The National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) reported that 59 large fires have burned 863,976 acres across 12 states, adding up to over 1,200 square miles. The NIFC reported that there have been 33,772 fires in 2021, burning nearly 2 million acres of land.

The California fires are so intense they are sparking firenadoes, which are described as swirling clouds of hot air, sand, and dirt. They form in a similar way to a tornado.

Meanwhile, rising temperatures are pounding parts of the southwest. Death Valley, California, has reached 128 degrees and Palm Springs has reached 120 degrees. Las Vegas hit an all-time high of 117 degrees.

The fires have put California's electrical infrastructure at risk, as there is 5,500 fewer megawatts available. Californians are being advised to conserve as much electricity as possible.

California