Gov. Doug Burgum on Thursday put the National Guard on standby to help fight wildfires if needed, with extreme drought now covering nearly half of the state. All of North Dakota is in some form of drought, and extreme drought -- the second-worst of four categories -- now covers almost all of western North Dakota, including the Bismarck-Mandan region, according to the latest U.S. Drought Monitor map, posted Thursday. "Another dry week along with strong winds on March 29 resulted in a slight expansion of extreme drought ... across North Dakota and northern South Dakota," wrote Climate Prediction Center Meteorologist Brad Pugh and National Centers for Environmental Information Meteorologist Richard Heim.