‘Fire seasons are becoming fire years’: Will Congress act?

Utah’s 2026 wildfire season was one of the worst on record — 1,243 fires burned over a half a million acres of land, multiple firefighters died across the nation including four in Utah, and over $200 million was spent fighting the flames. Experts warned that the scale of the damage is simply not sustainable long term. As the dust settles, lawmakers are gearing up to prevent what Utah freshman Rep. Mike Kennedy called an “apocalyptic” fire season in the future. “We’re pretty water-rich right now, so it’s easy to not think about it. This is the time where we should be thinking about it because in seven months from now, we’re going to be in the hot season,” he told the Deseret News. “But we can’t hope for for the future. We need to plan for the future. I’m all for hope.” On Friday, Kennedy brought together over a dozen experts, fire managers and legislators to talk about the issue — and the consensus was clear: Utah needs more resources.

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