PHOENIX (AP) -- Stung by several years of destructive wildfires, firefighters in western states are pouncing on even small blazes to prevent the devastation from repeating itself this year.

Instead of waiting for drought-weakened forests to explode, forest officials are attacking blazes in their infancy and sending out additional crews, engines and air resources earlier than in years past.

``It is a mind-set change,'' said Tom Beddow, deputy director of fire and aviation for U.S. Forest Service's southwestern region. ``Extreme fire behavior is the norm now.''

New Mexico and Arizona, where fire danger has reached record levels, started getting additional resources in May. As the fire danger escalates, more resources are being sent, Beddow said.

Other states also received extra money early in the season in anticipation of potentially catastrophic wildfires.

California received money this year to protect the counties of San Diego, Riverside and San Bernardino, which are dealing with unprecedented beetle infestations, said Karen Terrill, a California Department of Forestry spokeswoman.

Tens of millions of trees in drought-stricken forests across the West have been killed by beetles at a rate never seen before.

Colorado, Wyoming and South Dakota have added resources, including single-engine air tankers and engines, that were sent because high temperatures and low humidity are escalating the wildfire danger.

``We never know when the large fires are going to develop but we have been trying to be proactive,'' said Larry Helmerick, spokesman for the Forest Service's Rocky Mountain Area Coordination Center, which covers Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas and South Dakota.

He said efforts are paying off. Colorado has avoided the large wildfires it experienced in 2000 and 2002.

Firefighters aggressively attacked a small fire that erupted in rugged terrain in northern Colorado on July 12. It sent smoke spiraling into the sky near Fort Collins, but no homes were threatened by the blaze.

``We got an initial attack on it really fast,'' Helmerick said.

These added resources have helped fire officials keep many of the blazes under control. Compared to last year, the number of ignitions in Arizona and New Mexico are up, but fire officials are catching 98 percent of them before they explode, Beddow said.

In Arizona, earlier in the month, a 90-acre fire forced the evacuation of about 85 homes east of Payson. Fire officials immediately put nine air tankers on the blaze. The evacuated residents were allowed home just hours after the evacuation.

``It is just kind of like the luck of the timing and quick attacking,'' Beddow said.

Fire officials were also able to get enough resources to fend off the flames that threatened about 100 cabins and a $200 million observatory on Mount Graham this month, Beddow said. Even though the fire came within a quarter mile of the cabins and 125 feet of the observatory, aggressive firefighting saved the structures.

Not having many fires ignite at once has also helped, forest officials say.

States like Colorado, where firefighters have been able to catch blazes early, have been sending people and equipment to help others in the West.

Firefighting resources from Colorado have been sent to Alaska, which is suffering its fourth worst fire season since the 1950s thanks to low humidity and winds.

``We are not just our own little world,'' Helmerick said. ``We share throughout the United States, and that is critical.''