Cody Wright taking it day-by-day as Cottonwood Fire devastates Beaver County
The Cottonwood Fire, the largest active wildfire in the United States, continues to devastate Southwest Utah.
The fire has already burned more than 92,000 acres and was just 4% contained as of the morning of June 30.
ProRodeo Hall of Famer Cody Wright, a 2008 and 2010 PRCA Saddle Bronc Riding World Champion, and his wife, ShaRee have already been impacted by the blaze.
“It started probably a mile or two from town,” Cody Wright told the PRORODEO Sports News. “Then it kind of went west, east, it started to go south and then it started blowing back to the north. That’s when it started blowing across our summer allotment.”
When the fire approached the Wrights’ summer allotment, Cody was forced to hope for the best. He turned his cattle onto the summer allotment on June 1.
The fire started three weeks later, on June 22, and quickly spread to his Bureau of Land Management’s North Beaver and Indian allotment, cutting him off from the herd.
Cody was able to help move his son, three-time PRCA World Champion Ryder Wright’s livestock and some of his own animals to his other son, 10-time PRCA World Champion Stetson Wright’s property about five miles west of the fire.
“They’re wanting us out of here,” Cody said. “So we’ve moved everything, but we (Cody and his wife ShaRee) haven’t wanted to just leave. We’ve just kept trying to get a little more fire ready.”
The damage of the fire is extensive, ravaging through Piute and Beaver counties.
“It’s burned up a ton of cabins,” Wright said. “I was able to go up with the county commissioner last Friday and a lot of the ski resort is burned up between condos, part of the resort and a lot of private cabins. Then campers and trailers too. It’s a real mess.”
So far, the Wrights’ property remains in good shape despite the fire spreading to their BLM summer allotment.
For now, they’re taking it day by day, and wildland firefighters and first responders work tirelessly to get the fire under control. And Cody hopes his livestock have managed to escape the fire.
-PRCA
