Three firefighters were killed and at least three others were injured on Wednesday while fighting a 1,500-acre wildfire near Twisp, Washington, USA Today reports.

“The bottom line is this is Hell in here,” Okanogan County Sheriff Frank Rogers told KOMO. “It’s just obvious. The wind’s blowing in every damn direction.”

According to the news station, officials say 4,000 homes have been evacuated due to the blaze, one of 100 currently being battled by nearly 29,000 firefighters across the West. From NBC News:

“We’re out of crews, we’re out of engines, we’re out of helicopters,” said Carol Connolly, a spokeswoman with the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center, which works with state and federal agencies to fight wildfires in Oregon and Washington State.

On Department of Forestry land in Oregon, there had already been 790 fires and nearly 30,000 acres burned this year, a statistic that could match the state’s worst wildfire year — 2013 — in more than half a century, said Rod Nichols, a department spokesman.

“This year, we’re having a lot of fire, but so are the neighboring states,” Nichols told NBC News. “Resources are being spread very thin. We’re already seeing a scarcity of aircraft, hand crews and heavy equipment.”

“My heart breaks over the loss of life,” said Washington Governor Jay Inslee in a statement on Wednesday. “They gave their lives to protect others. It was their calling, but the loss for their families is immense and I know the community will come together to support them.”

[Image via AP Images]