Hundreds of thousands of acres burn as fires spread in West

By Liam Hibbert
The Center Square

Fires across the southwestern U.S. have picked up early this year, with over 400,000 acres burning just between Utah and Colorado.

The quick and early spread of wildfires comes after a short and warm winter across many Western states.

In total, over 546,000 acres are currently burning in wildfires across the U.S., with the vast majority in the West. That was about 146% of the average year-to-date acreage burn during the last 10 years, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.

“We knew going into this season that large areas of the West had not received their normal snowpack and were struggling with drought,” said Al Nash, the public information officer for the Alaska Incident Management Team assigned to fight Colorado’s Aspen Acres Fire.

“We know that that drought condition is an underlying reason for this fire to have started and grown like it has,” Nash told The Center Square Wednesday.

Utah has seen the worst of the wildfire season with over 239,000 acres burning, followed by Colorado at 187,000.

The two states currently hold the undesirable title for the two largest wildfires across the U.S.

Utah’s Babylon Fire passed 100,000 acres as of Wednesday morning, becoming the state’s largest fire in eight years.

“We’ve been under a stretch of really hot, dry, and windy conditions for quite a long period now. And that’s just been really drying out our fuels, making them a lot more receptive to combustion,” National Weather Service meteorologist Braeden Winters told The Center Square. Winters is based in NWS’ Grand Junction, Colorado, office, which serves neighboring Utah in addition to Colorado.

“Add to it the days around when it ignited, especially through that weekend of the 27th and 28th, we saw really strong winds and wind gusts down in that area,” Winter said Wednesday about Utah.

The fire, located 25 miles southwest of Monticello in southeastern Utah, has destroyed five structures. That’s according to the local U.S. Forest Service office, which also reported that over 1,300 people had been assigned to help put out the fire. They’ve contained 11% of the fire.

To date, 22 helicopters, 68 wildfire truck engines, four bulldozers and 21 water tenders have been used to fight the Babylon Fire. The U.S. Forest Service reported that gusty thunderstorms had swept out much of the smoke and air quality remained good to moderate in communities near the fire.

The Center Square was unable to determine a total cost for the wildfire suppression effort for the Babylon Fire, which started June 26. No deaths had been reported as of Wednesday afternoon.

Live updates for the Babylon Fire can be found on the U.S. Forest Service-Manti-La Sal National Forest Facebook page.

The Babylon Fire is currently the largest wildfire across the U.S., followed closely by Colorado’s 96,000-acre Aspen Acres Fire.

The Colorado blaze was 15% contained as of Wednesday morning, according to the Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control’s assigned Alaska Incident Management Team.

No lives had been lost, and no serious injuries had been caused by the wildfire as of Wednesday afternoon, according to the Incident Management Team. Total costs to fight the fire have grown to $17.9 million.

“It’s very hard to estimate how much this fire is going to cost in the end,” said Nash. “We’ve had some good success, but we’ve got a lot of people on this fire. There’s a lot of work yet to do.”

Over 1,600 people were reported to be working on the fire in Custer and Pueblo counties in Southern Colorado. The Center Square was unable to determine the exact number of evacuations, but the Incident Management Team said there had been roughly 10,800 in Pueblo County, with some evacuations in three other counties.

A flash flood watch was in effect Wednesday as thunderstorms rolled across the wildfire area, which had already received a small amount of rain. The Incident Management Team said the additional rain could be helpful for the fire, but could also present new challenges to firefighters if it triggered a flash flood.

“It’s kind of like a double-edged sword, right?” National Weather Service meteorologist Clint Skelly told The Center Square Wednesday.

“We want rain, of course, to help put out the fire,” said Skelly, who’s based in Pueblo, Colorado. “However, there’s impacts coming from the rain that could be very dangerous for, say the the frontline workers who are working the fire.”

At least 266 homes were believed to have been destroyed by the Aspen Acres Fire, which began June 29.

“While it’s grown every day, the amount of new growth has been slowing,” Nash said of the fire.

Live updates for the Aspen Acres Fire can be found on the Aspen Acres Fire 2026 Facebook page.

This year’s roaring fire season follows early heat waves across the Southwest. Paired with droughts, snowpacks crucial to preventing wildfires have been wiped out earlier than usual in the year, which opened the door to the sweeping wildfires being felt Wednesday.

“We recognize that the conditions here are not unique, and that as we move through July into August and the fall, we can certainly expect to see additional large fires that are in part due to the lack of winter snowpack,” said Nash.

Nevada is currently battling over 44,000 acres of wildfire, including the 26,000-acre Grapevine Fire in Southern Nevada, which has been 99% contained as of Tuesday. Over 27,000 acres of wildfire are being battled in Arizona.

In Colorado, Skelly said the impact of fires last long after the last flame is extinguished.

“Yes, the fire is ongoing, but the impacts of the fire are going to last many many years from now,” the Pueblo meteorologist told The Center Square. “Flash flooding is going to be a risk at least for the next five years over the Aspen Acres burn scar.”

Elsewhere in the West, California, Oregon and Wyoming have seen smaller fires than those in Colorado and Utah.