By KATHY McCORMACK and SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN Associated Press
Utah restricted fireworks and declared a state of emergency Friday ahead of July Fourth celebrations as the United States’ largest wildfire mushroomed in size. The National Weather Service issued a rare “Particularly Dangerous Situation” warning as dry, windy conditions provided fuel for more fires across the western U.S.
The Cottonwood Fire in a sparsely populated area of southern Utah started Monday. It reached nearly 111 square miles (287 square kilometers) Friday and was uncontained, forestry officials said. One of six large wildfires burning in Utah, it severely damaged the Eagle Point ski resort in Beaver County, forcing mandatory evacuations.
Smoke from the fire has been pushing to the east and northeast, meaning the air quality at popular vacation spots like Zion and Bryce Canyon national parks — located far south of the flames — hasn’t been significantly affected beyond some haze in the Bryce area. Still, visitors to Bryce have posted videos on social media showing the giant plume in the distance.
The smoke could further be seen for hundreds of miles, all the way to Colorado, as authorities put roughly 1,300 residents in the towns of Marysvale, Junction and Circleville on notice that they should be prepared to leave if conditions worsen and the fire pushes further.
“This is unlike anything we’ve seen in recent memory,” state forester Jamie Barnes said in a statement Thursday. “We’re seeing fires spread farther and faster under conditions that defy historical expectations. Some of the fires we’ve responded to this year are behaving in ways veteran firefighters simply haven’t seen before.”
Bruce Brown, 76, accompanied the sheriff on Thursday to find that his cabin and others in the area were gone.
“It looks a lot like the moon,” he said. “Just burned out. Power poles tipped over all up the canyon.”
Alyssa Olsen, 27, said her family’s cabin also burned, including memorabilia from her grandfather’s time in the ski patrol. It was the last place they gathered for family photos with her grandmother before she died of cancer. Her brother was to get married there in two months.
“That stuff you can’t just build back,” Olsen said.
Fireworks will be limited in Utah through July 5
Gov. Spencer Cox set the temporary fireworks restrictions through July 5 as the nation prepares to celebrate its 250th anniversary, saying “this year is different.”
The weather service in Salt Lake City, for the first time in the office’s history, issued a ” Particularly Dangerous Situation ” warning for five Utah counties, including the area of the Cottonwood Fire. The rare alert was first used to warn of tornado conditions. A red flag warning also was issued for most of the state.
“Prepare now for rapid fire growth,” it said.
A similar “dangerous situation” warning had been issued for the 2025 Palisades Fire in Los Angeles. A federal judge declared a mistrial Friday in the arson case against Jonathan Rinderknecht, the man accused of sparking that fire. The jury said it couldn’t agree on a verdict.
While the cause of the Cottonwood Fire in Utah was unknown, Cox’s order noted that humans have been the cause of most fires in the state so far this year.
The governor’s order gives power to Barnes to restrict or prohibit fireworks displays in Utah’s cities and towns, instead of leaving those decisions to the communities.
With extreme fire conditions persisting, Rocky Mountain Power issued a public safety power shut-off watch/warning for areas of central, southern and eastern Utah through the weekend.
Crews also were battling the Iron Fire southwest of Salt Lake City. The flames on Thursday forced the temporary evacuation of Eureka, population 1,000.
Wildfire danger prompts concern throughout the West
Red flag warnings, which mean conditions such as low humidity, warm temperatures and strong winds can create an extreme wildfire risk, were in effect Friday for a large area that stretched from Idaho to southern Arizona and New Mexico.
The warnings extended into Saturday, with forecasters predicting winds of 25 to 35 miles an hour (40 km/h to 56 km/h) and very low humidity levels. The worst conditions were expected from northern Arizona into central and southern Utah.
Much of Utah already is experiencing severe to extreme drought, while parts of Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico are experiencing severe drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
In New Mexico, firefighters were battling a blaze that had forced the evacuations of campgrounds and a YMCA summer camp in the Jemez Mountains.
In Arizona, a wildfire prompted some evacuations last weekend near Sedona, burning about several hundred acres of steep and rugged terrain near Oak Creek Canyon.
Nationally, nearly 3 million acres have burned since the start of the year, pushing the U.S. ahead of the 10-year average. The National Interagency Fire Center said firefighters are making progress on containing fires from Alaska to Florida.
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Associated Press reporter Sudhin Thanawala contributed to this story.
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This story has been corrected; the state forester’s first name is spelled Jamie, not Jaime.