Utah Gov. Cox declares state of emergency, enacting temporary statewide fireworks restrictions as nation’s largest active wildfire continues to surge 73%
By OAN Staff Brooke Mallory0%
6/26/2026, 5:12:57 PM
BS Summary: This article contains 23 faulty reasoning types, including Appeal to Emotion, Ambiguity (Equivocation), and Appeal to Authority, with Negativity Bias as the most egregious example at 27.8% saturation with 150 hits. Analysis detected 1,360 faulty-reasoning hits from 540 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 65.1% and a BS Rank of 73% (5,978 of 21,887 articles). This article is worse (more manipulative) than 72.70% of the article peer group.
Utah Gov.
Cox declares state of emergency, enacting temporary statewide fireworks restrictions as nation’s largest active wildfire continues to surge
OAN Staff Brooke Mallory
5:12 PM – Friday, June 26, 2026
Utah GOP Governor Spencer Cox declared a state of emergency and enacted temporary, sweeping statewide fireworks restrictions as the nation’s largest active wildfire continues to surge uncontained.
Standing before the Salt Lake City foothills, Cox (R-Utah) signed an executive order (EO) on Thursday granting unprecedented authority to State Forester Jamie Barnes to restrict personal pyrotechnics through July 5th.
The drastic measure arrives just ahead of Independence Day celebrations, a period historically plagued by a high volume of human-caused blazes, with state officials noting that more than 75% of Utah’s wildfires this season have been ignited by human activity.
The primary catalyst for the emergency declaration is the explosive Cottonwood Fire, which ignited in a sparsely populated section of southern Utah and rapidly mushroomed to encompass over 112 square miles (approximately 71,000 acres).
Evacuation orders remain active as the inferno threatens regional infrastructure, having already severely damaged the Eagle Point ski resort in Beaver County and left mountain cabins incinerated.
“This is unlike anything we’ve seen in recent memory,” state forester Jamie Barnes said in a statement on Thursday.
“We’re seeing fires spread farther and faster under conditions that defy historical expectations.
Some of the fires we’ve responded to this year are behaving in ways veteran firefighters simply haven’t seen before.”
The massive plume of smoke generated by the blaze is visible for hundreds of miles, casting a haze over tourist destinations like Bryce Canyon National Park and extending all the way into neighboring Colorado, while roughly 1,300 residents in the nearby towns of Marysvale, Junction, and Circleville have been placed on high alert to evacuate.
The National Weather Service in Salt Lake City has also issued a rare "Particularly Dangerous Situation" warning for five Utah counties — the first time the local office has ever deployed this specific classification — which is typically reserved for high-consequence tornado outbreaks, officials added.
With approximately 94% of Utah gripped by severe or extreme drought, vegetation across the state has effectively been rendered highly volatile, raising the immediate threat of rapid, catastrophic fire growth.
Under the new regulatory structure, the default state policy across Utah is an outright prohibition of personal fireworks.
Nonetheless, the governor's EO retains a layer of localized flexibility, allowing municipal mayors and local fire wardens to collaborate and designate controlled zones where residents may set off fireworks safely under professional supervision.
State leaders emphasized that local law enforcement and fire patrols will be increased over the holiday week to enforce the restrictions, warning that anyone found responsible for igniting a wildfire will face severe criminal charges and financial liabilities for suppression costs.
State officials purportedly plan to reevaluate environmental conditions after the July 4th holiday weekend to determine if the restrictions must be extended through the state's traditional July 24th Pioneer Day celebrations.
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