So, you’re looking for a Forsyth Fire Utah map and honestly, it’s a lot to take in when you see how much ground that blaze actually covered. It wasn't just some small brush fire. This thing was a monster that ripped through the Dixie National Forest, specifically hitting the Pine Valley area incredibly hard back in the summer of 2025. If you're planning a hike or a camping trip near St. George or Pine Valley today, understanding where those fire lines ended up isn't just a matter of curiosity—it's basically a safety requirement because of how unstable that terrain has become.
Lightning. That was the culprit.
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It started small on June 19th, but with the way the wind was howling and how bone-dry the brush was, it didn't stay small for long. By the time the smoke cleared, over 15,600 acres had been scorched. To put that into perspective, that’s about 24 square miles of Utah wilderness turned into ash and charcoal.
Where the Forsyth Fire Utah Map Shows the Most Damage
When you look at the perimeter on a topographical map, the fire's footprint is jagged and aggressive. It sits roughly 15 miles north of St. George, but its heart was right in the Pine Valley Mountains. The "Go" evacuation orders that hit Pine Valley, Grass Valley, and Gray’s Ranch weren't just for show. The fire actually pushed right up to the edge of these communities.
The fire behavior was terrifying.
At one point, it was jumping between tree torching and spotting. Basically, the fire wasn't just crawling along the ground; it was leaping ahead of itself. The map shows a heavy concentration of heat and destruction in the higher elevations where timber and mixed conifer dominate. If you look at the southern edge, west of Deer Flat, that's where crews spent weeks literally fighting for every inch to keep the flames from dropping down into the valley floor.
The Forsyth Fire didn't just burn open fields. It hit:
- The Pine Valley Mountain Wilderness (massive interior burn).
- Pine Valley Recreation Area (campgrounds were threatened for weeks).
- Oak Grove Campground.
- Areas near Burger Peak.
Why the Map Matters Long After the Fire is Out
You might think that once a fire is 100% contained, the map is just a historical document. Wrong. In Utah, a burn scar is a ticking time bomb for flash floods. When you strip away the mountain mahogany, gambel oak, and ponderosa pine, there's nothing left to hold the soil together.
Rain that used to be absorbed by the forest floor now just sheets off the mountain.
If you’re looking at the Forsyth Fire Utah map to plan a trip to the Forsyth Reservoir or the surrounding trails, you've got to be looking for the "black zones." These are the areas where the "Litter and Understory" fuel model—basically the needles and leaves on the ground—burned so hot they made the ground hydrophobic. Water literally bounces off it. If you see clouds building over the Pine Valley peaks, and you're in a drainage that's inside or below that burn perimeter, you need to get to high ground. FAST.
Misconceptions About the Containment Lines
A lot of people see "100% contained" on a map and think the fire is dead. It’s not.
Containment just means there’s a line—either a hand-dug trench, a bulldozer path, or a natural barrier like a rock slide—around the fire that is expected to stop it from spreading. Even months after the Forsyth Fire reached full containment in August 2025, interior pockets were still smoldering. Firefighters call these "hot spots."
On the eastern flank, the terrain was so steep that crews couldn't even get in there safely. They had to rely on "indirect" lines and aerial bucket drops. If you look at the map near Lloyd Canyon, you can see how the lines had to weave around the cliffs. It wasn't a perfect circle. It was a messy, dangerous battleground.
How Much Did This Actually Cost?
The numbers are staggering. We're talking about an estimated $37.9 million in suppression costs alone. That doesn't even count the 14 homes that were lost or the four outbuildings destroyed during those first frantic days in June.
Governor Spencer Cox called it a miracle that more wasn't lost, and looking at the map, he's right. The fire crept so close to the community of Pine Valley that it’s almost hard to believe any of it survived. The map shows the fire literally wrapping around the town like a horseshoe.
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Navigating the Burn Scars Today
If you're headed out that way, don't just rely on a generic Google Map. You need something that shows the actual Forest Service closures. Even now, some trails might be restricted because of hazard trees. Fire-weakened trees (widow-makers) can fall without warning even on a day with no wind.
Check the Dixie National Forest website before you go.
Download the Avenza Maps app for georeferenced PDFs.
Monitor the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) for post-fire rehabilitation updates.
The landscape has changed. It's beautiful in a haunting, silver-and-black way now, but it's fragile. Respect the closures on the Forsyth Fire Utah map—they aren't there to ruin your weekend; they're there because the mountain is still healing from a massive trauma.
If you want to stay safe while exploring the area, your next step should be to download the latest Motor Vehicle Use Map (MVUM) for the Pine Valley Ranger District. It’ll show you exactly which forest roads are still open and which ones have been decommissioned due to erosion risks from the burn.