Every year, hundreds of wildfires burn on private, state and federal land in Utah. Fires occurring on federal and tribal lands are managed by the US Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, US Fish & Wildlife Service and the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Wildfires that occur on state and private lands that aren’t inside city limits are managed by the Division of Forestry, Fire & State Lands and are coordinated through County Fire Wardens.
County Fire Wardens work with federal agencies and local fire departments to coordinate the suppression effort. More than ¾ of all wildfires in Utah are extinguished before they exceed 10 acres.
The Division’s Lone Peak Conservation Center employs Hotshot Crews, Initial Attack Crews, Fuel Crews, and Engine Crews. These crews are dispatched all over the state to put fires out in difficult terrain. When in-state fire activity is reduced, the crews are dispatched to help in other states. When Utah needs help, the same types of resources are dispatched from outside the state. This national resource sharing allows national fire managers to allocate firefighting resources where they are needed most.
The first priority for firefighters is protecting human life, then preserving property and valuable natural resources. Somewhere around half of all fires in the state are preventable, human-caused events.