Who's to blame for the West's devouring wildfires?

Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Wyoming, Montana — it’s a geography lesson written in flames that greedily eat the heart out of the Rocky Mountain West. If that sounds too dramatic, come to the New Mexico village of Ruidoso and gaze at one of nature’s hottest quirks: The vacation town is safe, perfectly intact, perched in a crescent of fire just three miles distant. The Little Bear fire around it has so far scorched 44,000 acres and destroyed nearly 300 structures.

In Colorado, Linda Steadman, a 62-year-old grandmother, died when her cabin was surrounded by the High Park fire. As many as 40,000 in nine states have been evacuated from fire danger, making this one of the worst wildfire seasons in decades.