©Utah Fire Info

Utah is experiencing one of its worst wildfire seasons on record, and the explosive growth of the blazes has only made them harder to fight. The Cottonwood Fire near Beaver jumped by 20,000 acres overnight in late June and ultimately burned more than 97,000 acres. The Widemouth 2 Fire in Millard County escalated from 36,000 acres on Sunday to more than 84,000 acres by Tuesday and it’s expected to get bigger — the blaze remains 0% contained as of Wednesday. “If conditions we’re seeing in years like this become more of a regular thing,” said Larissa Yocom, director of the Utah Forest Restoration Institute, “we’re going to have to start thinking about arming our communities better, versus assuming that we’re going to continue having suppression as an option.” Wildfires rapidly expand due to three factors experts call the “fire triangle” — topography, fuels and weather. This year, Utah got slammed by that trifecta.