Wildfires

Utah’s official fire season runs from June 1 to Nov. 30. Here’s a round-up of helpful information to guide you through it.

Yes, 2020 was the year of COVID. But here’s a timeline of the other interesting stuff that happened in Utah last year too.

Governors across the West are asking for federal support to ensure that wildfire restoration becomes a priority, just like wildfire suppression and mitigation efforts.

Correcting mistakes of the past is often tougher than it sounds. Almost two decades later, those involved in responding to the Rodeo-Chediski Fire say they’re still learning what it will take to get ahead of wildfires, and the effects they have on headwater forests.

Across the West, the increasing prevalence of invasive plants, and the growing influence of climate change, is changing the relationship between vast rangelands, drought, and wildfire.

For many communities in the West, the water that flows out of kitchen faucets and bathroom showerheads starts high up in the mountains, as snowpack tucked under canopies of spruce and pine trees. This summer’s record-breaking wildfires have reduced some of those headwater forests to burnt trees and heaps of ash.

Major wildfires have burned through the Western U.S. in 2020, breaking records for their scale and damage. As firefighters tamp down their immediate effects, those who live nearby are coming to grips with the lingering danger of wildfires. Even long after the flames are gone, residents face a serious increase in the threat of flooding.

Yellowstone's 1988 wildfires marked a paradigm shift, ushering in a new chapter of massive, frequent fires that communities across the American West face today. They also deepened our understanding of wildfires from a destructive force to a vital ecological process.

The latest news in Utah from Monday evening, September 21, 2020.

The latest news in Utah from Thursday evening, September 17, 2020.

The latest news in Utah from Thursday evening, September 17, 2020.

Mojave Desert Tortoises have lived in Southwest Utah for thousands of years. But wildfires and climate change are putting this already-threatened keystone species even more at risk.