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Utah Set a Forest Burn Record in 2026. 3 Fires Topped 80,000 Acres Each.

Resist Now 3 min read

Utah Broke Its Forest Burn Record Before the Fire Season Ended

Utah broke its all-time record for woodland and forest acres burned in a single year, and the fire season is only half over. As of early August 2026, wildfires have consumed 285,000 acres of woodland and forest, according to University of Utah geographers analyzing state fire data.

Phil Dennison, a professor in the University of Utah’s School of Environment, Society and Sustainability, presented the findings in a virtual news conference on August 5, 2026. He said the geographic pattern of this year’s fires is what makes the data stand out.

“What’s even more important is where this year’s fires are burning. This year’s fires have really had an unprecedented impact on Utah’s trees.”

Phil Dennison, Professor, University of Utah School of Environment, Society and Sustainability, August 5, 2026

Three fires have each burned more than 80,000 acres of vegetation this year. The Babylon Fire in San Juan County exceeded 107,000 acres. The Cottonwood Fire in Beaver County surpassed 97,000 acres.

The Widemouth 2 Fire, sparked by lightning near Kanosh in Millard County, reached nearly 85,000 acres as of August 5. Since 1986, only 10 fires total had burned 60,000 or more acres of trees in Utah. All three of this year’s major fires cleared that threshold.

Woodland Burn Records Have Already Fallen. Forest Records May Follow.

Utah’s woodland areas, dominated by pinyon pines and junipers, have “far eclipsed the record” for acres burned in a single year, Dennison said. Forest areas, home to aspens, firs, and pines, are approaching their own record. The state has already burned nearly 75,000 forest acres in 2026, closing in on the records set in 2020 and 2018.

The decade-level trend is stark. Seven of Utah’s 10 largest fires since 1986 have occurred within the last 10 years. Dennison described the economic and ecological threats posed by these trends as “concerning.”

Federal Budget Cuts Threaten the Agencies That Fight These Fires

The U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management manage millions of acres of Utah’s fire-prone public lands. Both agencies faced significant staffing cuts under the federal workforce reductions of 2025, which reduced the capacity of interagency fire response teams that coordinate on large fires like the Cottonwood and Babylon fires.

State and federal fire policy is being shaped right now. The data Dennison’s team released gives lawmakers a concrete record to act on before the 2027 budget cycle.

What You Can Do Now

  1. Call your U.S. senators at (202) 224-3121 and tell them to restore Forest Service and BLM firefighting budgets. The Senate Appropriations Committee is marking up the Interior spending bill this fall. Ask for full funding of fire suppression and prevention line items.

  2. Contact Utah Governor Spencer Cox’s office at (801) 538-1000 and urge him to request a federal major disaster declaration to unlock additional wildfire response and recovery funds for San Juan and Beaver counties.

  3. Submit a public comment on the Dixie National Forest management plan, which covers parts of the area affected by this year’s fires. The plan is open for input at fs.usda.gov. Tell the Forest Service to prioritize prescribed burns and fuels management in high-risk woodland zones.

  4. Find your Utah state legislator at le.utah.gov and ask them to fund the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands at the level needed to expand the state’s prescribed fire program. Seven of Utah’s 10 largest fires in recorded history happened in the last decade.

Sources

[Quote: “That’s something that’s never happened before going back all the way to 1986”, Phil Dennison, University of Utah professor, on three fires each burning 60,000+ acres of trees.

Utah News Dispatch]