right now, active fires are burning in 12 states with oregon seeing the worst of it. the bootleg fire, the largest burning in the country right now is just 7% contained. extreme wildfire behavior is forcing evacuations and putting fire crews to the test. and as the historic hot and dry conditions worsen, so does the situation for both the people who live out west and the men and women tasked with saving them from the flames. cnn s senior national correspondent sarah sidner reports now from the front lines. the entire town was evacuated. reporter: this was the second time in eight months kathy katrin s hometown has lost more than a dozen homes to wildfire. it sounded like a freight train come ing down the mountai. the flames are coming at you, the smoke is rolling over you. all you see is this big, huge, orange ball of flames everywhere you look. reporter: volunteer fire
chief of this town of about 600 residents. she is often the first one to call residents to tell them their home is gone. i m still kind of numb. after losing everything that i worked for and everything, all these years, it s gone. and everybody says, oh, it s so replaceable. well, no, a lot of it isn t. reporter: kelly groso lost one of the 16 homes burned in doyle. everyone thought the danger was over. but on monday, the fire came roaring back, devouring more homes. chief katrin and several residents were angry that air drops fromming as didn t come earlier. we were like the lone ranger. a lot of the engines weren t where they should have been and weren t down there maybe. at that point i was ready to sigh i can t do this anymore. reporter: burned an area