Utah is facing a historic fire season in 2026, characterized by unprecedented destruction of the state's tree cover. According to an analysis by University of Utah geographers, flames have blackened a record 285,000 acres of woodland and forest.
The current season has seen significant impacts on different ecosystems. The Babylon fire, which burned more than 100,000 acres in San Juan County, drove the state past its previous record for mid-elevation woodland acreage burned in a single season. Additionally, the 97,000-acre Cottonwood fire, which spanned the Tushar Range and destroyed more than 150 structures near Eagle Point Resort east of Beaver, has pushed Utah close to its record for high-elevation forests burned in a single season.
In Millard County, the lightning-caused Widemouth 2 fire has scorched approximately 85,000 acres since July 27. Dennison, a professor in the University of Utah's School of Environment, Society & Sustainability, stated that the current season has seen three fires that each burned more than 50,000 acres of trees, noting that this has never happened before. Since 1986, only nine fires have burned more than 50,000 acres of combined woodland and forest.
The increasing frequency and scale of these fires represent a troubling trend. Dennison, who directs the Utah Remote Sensing Applications (URSA) Lab, noted that 27% of forest and 20% of woodland burned since 1986 has occurred within the last three years. He added that 10% of Utah's high-elevation forest has burned within the past 10 years.
These intense fires can also impact the atmosphere. On July 6, the Babylon fire unleashed a plume that reached 11.5 kilometers above the ground, penetrating the stratosphere. Atmospheric scientist Derek Mallia noted that the radiative power from the Cottonwood fire reached 180 gigawatts on June 23, the day after its ignition, marking the highest recorded from a Utah fire.
While the fire season continues to unfold, researchers note that wildfires can offer ecosystem benefits when they occur in the right place and size, such as clearing fuels from overgrown forests and helping certain species like lodgepole pines release seeds. However, the current trend increases the potential for flash flooding, as seen with the Cottonwood fire.
