Utah Wildfire Spreads Overnight

A fast-moving wildfire raced across the Utah landscape overnight, fed by heat and dry wind and forcing more communities to evacuate, officials said Saturday. Air tankers and helicopters had been grounded Friday as winds picked up on the Cottonwood Fire, the largest blaze currently burning in the US. Gusts were clocked at 45mph, and humidity levels were in the single digits, leaving crews with few options for slowing the flames, the AP reports, especially as they raced through the treetops.

The US Forest Service said in a statement on Facebook that weather conditions are expected to improve, but not by much. "Weather conditions are slightly better for fire behavior today, but extreme fire behavior may occur in the afternoon as temperatures and wind speeds increase," the service wrote. No injuries or deaths have been reported, said a spokesperson for the response team. The National Weather Service in March said Salt Lake City, Utah's capital, had the warmest winter on record with an average temperature of 40.7 degrees Fahrenheit, nearly 8 degrees above normal. Many other parts of Utah had warmer-than-usual winter.

Burning in a sparsely populated area of southern Utah, the Cottonwood Fire ballooned Saturday to more than 144 square miles. One of several large wildfires burning in Utah, it severely damaged the Eagle Point ski resort in Beaver County and forced campground closures in Fishlake National Forest. "We're looking at a full 48 hours of critical weather that we have not seen in Utah in the last five years," meteorologist Jason Straub told a community meeting in Beaver County on Friday evening. Two wildfires southwest of Salt Lake City—the Iron and Cherry fires—ran together overnight, and they are about 38% contained, according to fire officials. The two fires combined are covering about 91 square miles. Evacuations were ordered in several small communities.