Temperatures as high as 38C (100F) have followed a drier-than-normal winter and meant conditions are ideal for fires.
In Utah, the largest wildfire in state history has destroyed almost 300,000 acres (120,000 hectares).
Lightning strikes
Other fires are raging in California, Colorado, Arizona, Idaho, Montana and Oregon.
Several were blamed for road accidents on a stretch of highway near Richfield, Utah, including one in which two people were killed. Highway patrols blamed poor visibility from smoke.
More than 34,000 acres (13,800 hectares) have been scorched in California's Inyo National Forest and campgrounds had to be evacuated.
"Everything is very, very dry," said Nancy Upham, a spokeswoman for the Inyo National Forest.
"There are seasoned fire fighters who are seeing fire behaviour they have never seen before. Things are just igniting with a single spark."
In the Los Padres National Forest in Southern California 11 firefighters were injured.
Many of the fires have been blamed on lightning strikes in tinder-dry forest areas, after a mild winter which saw lower-than-average rainfalls.
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