Utah state officials are anticipating an above average wildfire season this year.
Jaime Barnes, the director and state forester for the Utah Division of Forestry Fire and State Lands, said they are looking at fuels, drought, and snowpack over the last year to know what to expect this year.
“So far, we have seen some below normal precipitation as the state moves back into drought," said Barnes. "The governor issued that doubt declaration, and so we're watching closely, the entire state, but also watching the south western portion of the state and that lower portion of Utah.”
“As things kind of line up with the tools that we have that fuels drought and snowpack, we do expect that we're going to see possibly some big fires in some areas, but we're prepared for that and staffed at the levels we need to be for what we're expecting totally."
Given current models, projections show high fire activity potentially starting in June in southern Utah.
They are particularly concerned about those southern counties, however temperatures across the state have been high and in 2025 we have already seen 1200 acres burned across 192 wildfires. While this is relatively normal for early season, the majority of those fires were caused by humans.
“Everybody should take precaution against wildfire, regardless of where you're at in the state," said Barnes. "And people should use their fire sense. They should look at, are your vehicles you know, proper for fire, or you can have flat tires? Are you securing your chains when you're camping and you're out recreating? Are you putting out your campfire? So those things across the state, we would ask people to really focus on that and use their fire sense.”
To report a wildfire: https://utah-fire-info-utahdnr.hub.arcgis.com/
To view a map of current wildfire activity: https://gacc.nifc.gov/gbcc/
For information on being prepared: https://beready.utah.gov/
