Wildfire numbers throughout Utah have been decreasing since 2020. Four years ago there were over 1,100 human-caused wildfires across the state. In 2023, there were fewer than 300. In the past two years, Utah saw a 56% reduction in wildfires caused by people.
That’s represented in Summit and Wasatch counties as well. In 2020, Summit County saw 84 human-caused wildfires and only seven in 2023. Wasatch County had 35 human-caused wildfires in 2020 and just 11 in 2023.
Mother Nature helped reduce wildfire danger last year as the record snowpack cut short the 2023 wildfire season in Summit and Wasatch counties. Patrick Belmont is the head of the Watershed Sciences Department at Utah State University. He said large snowpack years tend to also be low wildfire years.
“This past year, I would attribute most of the decrease in fire to just the enormous snowpack we had," Belmont said. "But the two previous years before that were extreme droughts. And you know, to some extent, there was an element of luck there.”
He said wind conditions are also critical when it comes to catastrophic wildfires.
Belmont also gives a nod to the numerous efforts to prevent wildfires, including the Shared Stewardship program which helps manage Utah’s forests. He said the best way to prevent fires is to build in low fire-risk areas. But Utah doesn’t follow that model.
“Utah is a very flammable landscape. It really likes to burn," Belmont said. "We have built up into a lot of places in the wildland-urban interface. And there's a lot of places that are at risk.”
Karl Hunt, from the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands, credits reduced wildfires to the Fire Sense program launched in 2021.
“We saw a decrease from 2020 to 2021 when the campaign started, and that was about a 56% decrease that first year," he said. "We were experiencing similar conditions related to the drought across the state, comparative to those two years.”
The Fire Sense program aims to raise awareness about preventing wildfires, from fireworks safety to keeping campfires contained to properly towing a vehicle. In 2023, Fire Sense won the bronze Smokey Bear Award recognizing its contributions in fire prevention.
Despite decreasing wildfires in the state, Belmont says Utah needs to continue long-term efforts to prevent them. Over the next few decades, the state will only continue to get drier, increasing wildfire risk.
