Utah Takes Action on Wildfire Risk, Funding in 2025
A conversation with Utah State Forester Jamie Barnes
Wildfires have become increasingly frequent, severe, and expensive throughout the U.S., putting unprecedented strain on state resources as states struggle to keep up with escalating costs and rapidly changing conditions. To address these challenges, legislators are taking new approaches to how they allocate limited resources before, during, and after a wildfire. During the 2025 legislative session, the Utah Legislature enacted changes to help consolidate and streamline how they fund wildfire management, in an effort to maximize the impact of public money spent on wildfires while encouraging better coordination among state entities that address fire disasters.
A conversation with Utah State Forester Jamie Barnes explores these recent reforms and the various ways Utah is addressing complex wildfire-related issues.
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Q: How severe is Utah’s wildfire risk, and what’s your role in helping manage it?
Utah’s wildfire risk is similar to that of other western states, due to drought and dry vegetation. My team manages fire suppression on state and unincorporated private land—although wildfire management is an interagency effort throughout Utah, with state, federal, and local partners.
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Q: How will the new wildfire-risk requirements for urban interface areas (places where human development connects with natural landscapes) in House Bill 48 —passed during Utah’s 2025 legislative session and signed into law as the Wildland Urban Interface Modifications Act— affect homeowners and local governments?
Wildland urban interface (WUI) areas have been a focus in Utah and are vulnerable due to the increasing number of homes in these areas, which include approximately 600 communities throughout Utah. The recent passage of H.B. 48 implemented specific insurance requirements to protect homeowners. The bill requires insurance companies to provide facts supporting decisions around canceling policies or substantially increasing premiums, and it requires counties to adopt a WUI-specific building code.
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Q: What are some other recent changes Utah has made to address how it pays for wildfire costs?
Passing H.B. 307, a bill on wildfire funding amendments, was a huge step for obtaining dedicated money for prevention, preparedness, and mitigation, and for providing reliable funding each year. The funding makes possible multiyear large landscape-scale projects, which are projects that impact fuelscapes—areas showing where burnable plants and other fuels are located on the land and how the land’s shape affects wildfire risk and behavior—on an entire landscape; they’re a proactive approach to getting more work done. The bill also allows a path for postfire mitigation on state and private lands. The Legislature has also dedicated ongoing money to the Utah Wildfire Fund, giving security and reducing the likelihood of supplemental requests.
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Q: What challenges were policymakers seeking to address with these changes?
Several challenges brought all this about: increased requests for supplemental appropriations, the need to be more proactive on fuels mitigation, the need for a solid stream of funding into the account, and the forecasting of insurance issues in the state.
The Pew Charitable Trusts' research on wildfire funding has emphasized that prefire risk reduction is key to managing rising costs but also that it can be difficult to prioritize.
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Q: All states face the challenge of increasing frequency, severity, and costs of disasters. What advice might you give other state leaders that are trying to address these growing challenges?
One recommendation is for state, local, and federal partners to share disaster-related responsibilities. We work collaboratively with our local and federal partners to not just fight wildfires but also to prevent them from happening in the first place by investing in mitigation, preparedness, and prevention efforts. Utah uses a wildfire suppression model called the Cooperative Wildfire System (CWS), which works as a type of insurance policy for municipalities and counties in the state. Through the CWS, local fire jurisdictions can join and agree to assist in the prevention, preparedness, and mitigation of wildfires in their counties. With this in-kind work as payment, the state will assume the cost of wildfire in those jurisdictions. This model also allows Utah to boost its wildland firefighting capabilities by using resources throughout the state to assist in fighting wildfires.
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Q: Any efforts on the legislative side?
Yes. Another step officials can take is to seek support and engagement from their state legislature. We work closely with policymakers on a regular basis to provide input on bills that affect our ability to prevent and mitigate wildfires. Many of these lawmakers understand how important it is to protect homes and communities from the impacts of wildfire, and they’re often eager to learn more about what’s needed on the ground. By more actively engaging with state lawmakers, you can help share information about wildfire impacts while also taking steps to prevent the effects on communities and residents.
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