Utah issues rare red flag warning as Cottonwood Fire rages on

Utah officials tightened fireworks restrictions and firefighters braced for new ignitions as the National Weather Service in Salt Lake City issued a Particularly Dangerous Situation red flag warning covering the Cottonwood Fire area and much of the state’s southwest, central and southern mountains. The warning ran from 9 a.m. to midnight Friday, with forecasters warning that critical fire weather would last into Saturday and that some areas could face more than 30 hours of dangerous conditions.

The Cottonwood Fire began Monday near Beaver in the Fishlake National Forest and had grown to about 70,992 acres by Thursday and Friday, with no containment. The blaze was on track to become the most destructive and costly fire in Utah history, after it already forced evacuations and damaged or destroyed parts of Eagle Point Resort.

Gov. Spencer Cox announced temporary statewide fireworks restrictions ahead of the July 4 holiday. Utah was facing extraordinary wildfire conditions that had produced hundreds of fires, exhausted firefighting resources and created some of the most dangerous fire behavior in state history. The restrictions were aimed at reducing the chance that a holiday spark would add another fire to an already overloaded system.

Utah declared a statewide drought emergency on May 21, 2026, after the warmest winter on record and the lowest snowpack ever recorded in Utah. The governor’s declaration said all 29 counties were in severe drought, and 22 were in extreme drought. It also said snowpack normally supplies about 95% of Utah’s water, leaving hillsides, forests and range land far drier than usual heading into peak fire season.