©Interagency Fire Center

SALT LAKE CITY — In trying to understand why so much of their state has burned this year, some wildfire victims have blamed U.S. Forest Service officials for what they call a lack of forest management. Those officials disputed the claims, saying the state’s drought and fire conditions are so bad that no amount of wildfire mitigation could have prevented the devastation. Andy Anderson, whose family ranch was destroyed in the Cottonwood Fire, accused the U.S. Forest Service of inaction. “The forest service has done nothing for 50, 60 years,” Anderson said. “In the olden days, they used to use the forest.”  …Jamie Barnes, director and state forester for the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands, said the Beaver area was actually one of the state’s model zones for wildfire prevention — a place she would take people to showcase interagency success. But despite that work, Barnes said extreme conditions overwhelmed years of treatment.