Wildfire Season

Farrell Hayes represents something that veteran firefighters say is harder to come by these days: a young person who wants to get involved in firefighting.

From tents in the park to lines at the cafe, residents in Enterprise have felt the impact of welcoming hundreds of firefighters to town. But they say it’s a small price to pay.

So far, 13 homes have been lost. Larry Gardner has lived here for 75 years and says their pioneer heritage will help the community rebuild.

The Forsyth Fire started Thursday in the Pine Valley Mountains and has already burned about 2.3 square miles. It has forced people to evacuate from the Pine Valley community and nearby campgrounds.

The company uses three types of power cuts to prevent fires. Outages are a health and safety risk, so utilities should use them “surgically,” said Utah’s utility consumer advocate.

“Anytime we have to ground resources because of unauthorized drones in a wildfire area, it delays the containment of that fire longer,” said one fire management officer. That can put nearby communities and firefighters at risk

La Niña is over, but its counterpart, El Niño, hasn’t started either. The in-between conditions expected this summer may make predicting Utah’s seasonal weather extra tricky.

Colorado, Montana, New Mexico and Wyoming all have seen rates at least tripled between 2018 and 2023, according to a Mountain West News Bureau analysis. In Utah's Summit County, cancellations jumped from fewer than 100 to 316 in the same period.

Northern and Southern Utah have been in two different worlds over the winter when it comes to snowpack.

Workers who maintained trails, removed combustible debris from forests and secured funding for wildfire mitigation projects say the loss of these federal positions could impact public safety.

Utah communities from Washington County to the Wasatch Front face some of the nation’s highest risk for wildfires. As the Los Angeles fires show, the off-season for wildfires is disappearing, but there are things Utahns can do to prepare.

Human-started fires in 2024 have already surpassed Utah's total for all of last year. With months of dangerous conditions remaining and another firework holiday looming, fire officials are on alert.