New wildfire institute takes aim at growing fire crisis

If Utah needs to sidestep a major, deadly fire, Utah State University will play a crucial role.

The Utah Forest Restoration Institute, housed in USU’s S.J. & Jessie E. Quinney College of Natural Resources, was launched using state funding in 2024 to synthesize science on forest health, develop a resource hub, monitor vegetation shifts and train students in modern practices. It emphasizes curbing the escalating fire threat through research and teamwork with state and federal agencies.

“Fire is a natural part of our ecosystems, and without that regular fire, we’ve had a lot of changes to our forests,” said Larissa Yocom, director of UFRI.

Wildfires burned 8.9 million acres across the U.S. last year, a figure reported in a Feb. 2 Statista publication, marking a more than threefold increase from the previous year. In Utah alone, state data shows 50,170 of those acres were scorched.

“We have a century of fuel buildup in our forests because we’ve been suppressing fire for decades when, in fact, most of our forests are fire-adapted,” Yocom said.

Utah saw 961 fires in 2024, of which 57% were human-caused. Logan’s hillsides remain among the most vulnerable areas in the state.

“Sometimes people don’t like to hear about it, but climate change is another big thing,” Yocom said. “Even if we didn’t have that buildup of fuels, we also have hotter, drier seasons, and something that’s just indisputable is that our fire seasons are getting longer.”

The unpredictability of wildfires only heightens the fear they inspire.

“No city is safe from wildland fire,” said Robert LaCroix, assistant chief of fire operations for the Logan City Fire Department.

LaCroix, who brings 33 years of experience battling blazes from California to Utah, was “on the initial attack” of the 2018 Paradise fire, which killed 85 and became the deadliest forest fire in a century. After moving to Utah four years ago, he now leads firefighting efforts in Logan.

Yet, beyond the immediate terror of flames, Utah faces deeper, more complex issues regarding its fire-prone landscapes.

“We have challenges, including understanding exactly what management tools we can use in some of our forests in Utah,” Yocom said. “They’re different than states around us.”

She pointed to the delicate balance of implementing solutions like prescribed fire — a valuable tool that mimics natural burns but often unnerves the public.

“How do we increase public support for prescribed fire, which tends to make people nervous?” Yocom said. “Or for land management agencies doing more thinning? Taking some trees out — that could help — but people sometimes don’t like to see that in their forests.”

Air quality adds another layer of difficulty. “Smoke from prescribed fires is bad for vulnerable populations,” Yocom noted, highlighting the trade-offs that complicate these efforts.

This is where UFRI steps in, offering a path forward through collaboration and open dialogue.
The initiative serves as a hub for federal agencies like the U.S. Forest Service, state bodies such as the Utah Department of Natural Resources, tribes, counties, landowners and local fire services.

“It’s a really good chance to bring people together in a more organized way to not step on any toes but to facilitate what others are already doing,” Yocom said. “Lots of people are really doing neat, awesome, necessary work already. So, how can we add to it?”

With an April meeting planned to align these groups, UFRI aims to join the Southwest Ecological Restoration Institutes network — alongside Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado — through U.S. Senate Bill 457 and Utah House Bill 1045.

The Logan City Fire Department is among those eager to partner with UFRI.
“I’m excited they got the funding and that it’s here at Utah State in our backyard, and we are excited to collaborate,” LaCroix said.

He emphasized the value of this local resource for his team, noting the department is looking forward to tapping into UFRI’s expertise and training opportunities to bolster their efforts against the growing wildfire threat.

However, firefighting alone can’t address the root causes intensifying these blazes.

“A lot of people don’t connect to this, but it’s integrally connected — climate change,” said Patrick Belmont, USU hydrology professor. “Every bit of carbon pollution put in the air from now makes the wildfire problem worse.”

In a Feb. 5 Salt Lake Tribune piece following the Los Angeles fires, which killed 29 and destroyed over 16,000 structures, Belmont stressed the urgency of this link.

“I know that’s a super polarized term now, but that can’t be a reason not to talk about it,” Belmont said. “Climate change is complicated, but what it boils down to is we’ve got to get the fossil fuels turned off as quickly as possible.”

Yocom expressed gratitude to the Utah Legislature for recognizing wildfire’s urgency with funding that launched UFRI.

“They’ve decided this is a priority,” she said, highlighting their commitment as a driving force behind the institute’s mission.

UFRI aims to tackle fuel buildup and public perception gaps.

“That’s one of our top priorities,” Yocom said. “Making sure that we are focusing not just on our ideas of what needs to happen but really listening to everyone else too.”

As wildfires grow fiercer and more frequent, UFRI invites Utahns to confront the unknown together, turning fear into informed resolve.

“Being very clear about how to not make the problem worse moving forward — we need a lot more communication,” Belmont said. “My hope would be that it continues to pull together a wide variety of people, not just foresters, not just wildfire people per se, but the wildfire problem is linked to all these other problems.”