WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Firefighters are working hard to contain nearly three dozen large, early-season wildland fires that raced through forests in several parts of the western U.S. Utah was among the most active states, with fires having charred 558 square miles of area and four major fires that were not fully contained still burning.
Three wildland firefighters reportedly died while trying to contain the Knowles Fire along Utah's border with Colorado.
After a winter of below-average snow-pack and an unusually warm and dry start to summer, the National Inter-agency Fire Center had warned that the Great Basin and parts of the Rockies faced an elevated risk of wildfires in July.
The Cottonwood fire ranked as one of Utah's and the country's largest and most destructive fires of the year so far. It has burned 150 square miles (390 square kilometers), just shy of the Babylon fire in eastern Utah.
Officials with the state's forestry division told news media that the Cottonwood fire had destroyed up to 150 structures. Eagle Point Ski Resort, which lost more than 100 condos and 30 cabins, also reported damage to four of its five chairlifts.
The damage to forests was extensive, though isolated patches survived largely unscathed.
The cause of the wildfire has not been detected, but Utah Governor Spencer Cox says most wildfires in the state are human-caused.
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