Utah restricts fireworks as Cottonwood Fire grows unchecked

Gov. Spencer J. Cox declared a state of emergency on June 25 and imposed temporary statewide fireworks restrictions as the Cottonwood Fire surged across southern Utah, forcing evacuation orders and putting another holiday tradition in conflict with a season of extreme fire danger.

The executive order gave local leaders authority to designate safe areas for fireworks in consultation with fire officials, even as the state forester had already put Stage 1 fire restrictions in place on state and unincorporated lands in all 29 counties. Utah law normally allows fireworks discharge from July 2 to July 5 and again from July 22 to July 25, but the new limits were meant to reduce the risk of human-caused fires ahead of the holiday period.

The Cottonwood Fire began Monday, June 23, near Beaver in southern Utah and had grown to nearly 111 square miles, or more than 70,000 acres, while remaining 0% contained. It forced mandatory evacuations of homes and campgrounds and briefly shut down a highway. Drought-stressed vegetation and persistent dry conditions helped drive the blaze’s rapid spread, and state officials warned it could become the most destructive and costly fire in Utah history.

Cox said Utah was confronting wildfire conditions that had already produced hundreds of fires, exhausted firefighting resources and created some of the most dangerous fire behavior in state history. The governor’s office counted 354 wildfires burning 141,743 acres as of June 25, with at least 75% caused by human activity. The same order put 94% of Utah in severe or extreme drought. The National Weather Service issued a rare “Particularly Dangerous Situation” warning as dry, windy conditions elevated fire danger across the western United States. The Cottonwood Fire was the largest active wildfire in the nation, and the National Interagency Fire Center counted more than 35,000 fires that had already burned more than 2.9 million acres across the country this year.