Utah is burning. That’s bad news for its national parks.

Canyonlands National Park has temporarily closed its Needles district — a remote but popular portion of the park — and evacuated visitors and staff as firefighters struggle to contain a nearby wildfire.

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“The Needles Visitor Center is closed. No new backcountry overnight or day use permits will be issued nor reservations allowed for The Needles Campground until further notice,” a park news release reads. “Day hiking and scenic driving in The Needles are also not permitted until further notice.”

The Babylon Fire, which broke out near Blanding, Utah, on Friday, June 26, has since exploded in size, growing to more than 16,000 acres in the first 48 hours. As of the publication of this story, the blaze has now burned more than 38,000 acres and has no containment, according to Watch Duty.

The blaze is just one of a number of fires that either began or grew over the last week amid critical fire weather, including hot temperatures, low humidity and gusting winds. On June 25, the National Weather Service in Salt Lake City issued a “particularly dangerous situation” warning in parts of Utah — the first time the office has ever done so — due to the volatile combination of high winds, hot temperatures and low humidity.

Just east of the Babylon Fire, the Horse Head Fire started on Saturday and has since burned 600 acres, while at least two more fires have burned a collective 14,600 acres just over the border in Colorado. Also near the Utah-Colorado border, three wildland firefighters were killed and two others injured on Sunday while battling the Snyder Fire.

Farther afield, crews are also struggling to contain the Cottonwood Fire, currently the largest wildfire in the country. The blaze began on June 22, and a week later, has burned about 94,000 acres east of the small town of Beaver, Utah, in the southern portion of the state. Last week, smoke from the Cottonwood Fire choked the gateway town of Moab, Utah, blotting out the area’s beautiful vistas.

Public lands across Utah have been closed due to the fires, including all or part of Dark Canyon Wilderness, Bears Ears National Monument and Fishlake National Forest, among others. The public is prohibited from entering affected areas by road or on trails.

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“This is unlike anything we’ve seen in recent memory,” Jamie Barnes, Utah state forester and director of the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands, said in a news release. “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.”

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox described the Cottonwood Fire as potentially the most destructive wildfire in the state’s history based on the number of cabins and other structures destroyed. In addition, several cities, including Beaver and parts of Moab, have had their power cut to avoid sparking new fires during windy conditions. 

Heading into the holiday weekend, Utah has declared a state of emergency and implemented new fire restrictions. The vast majority of wildfires are started by humans — including 72% of the 388 fires that have burned in Utah during the 2026 fire season so far — and are only growing larger and more destructive as a result of climate change. The West is currently in an unprecedented drought, and the region saw some of its lowest snow levels on record this winter.

In acknowledgement of the unusually dry conditions, the Southeast Utah group of parks, which includes Arches National Park, Canyonlands National Park, Hovenweep National Monument and Natural Bridges National Monument, has banned smoking and the building of any fires, including charcoal. Propane stoves are limited to designated campsites. As of Monday, Capitol Reef National Park, Canyonlands National Park and Arches National Park remain subject to fire weather watch or red flag warnings.

Nationally, the use of fireworks on public lands is forbidden, and Cox recently banned personal fireworks statewide through July 5. “Nothing about this decision was easy,” Cox said in a news release. “Utahns love celebrating the Fourth of July with family, friends and fireworks. I do too. But this year is different. We are seeing fire behavior that even our most experienced firefighters say they’ve never witnessed before.”