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Extremely hot, dry conditions forecast across much of the West through the Fourth of July are heightening concerns about wildfires and the dangers of fireworks, including in Salt Lake City where officials are replacing their traditional explosive extravaganza with a drone light show.

An unusually wet winter and spring has allowed for the return of live fireworks shows in some other areas that canceled them in recent years due to drought, including parts of Nevada, California and Arizona.

But wildfire risks are growing with triple-digit temperatures forecast this weekend — up to 115 degrees Fahrenheit (46 Celsius) in Phoenix, where a shortage of professional-grade fireworks prompted cancellations last year but red-white-and-blue bursts resume this Independence Day.

In Utah, Salt Lake City for the first time is replacing fireworks with a drone show. Fireworks are still planned in most suburbs and neighboring towns.

“As temperatures rise and fire danger increases, we must be conscientious of both our air quality and the potential for wildfires,” Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall said this week.

A laser light show replaces conventional explosions again in Flagstaff, Arizona. And at Lake Tahoe straddling the California-Nevada line, communities on the north shore will celebrate with a drone show they implemented last Fourth of July due to lingering drought and wildfire risks....

Like monsters right out of your nightmares, and swarms fresh off weather radar, hundreds of thousands of grasshoppers have taken over in parts of Tooele County.

Farms are dealing with the destructive menace.

"Every bit of alfalfa that's in my fields is gone," rancher Michael Dow said. "I planted a pasture and all the seedlings were about 3/4 of an inch tall Sunday morning, and on Sunday evening, they were gone, it was bare dirt."

Dow said there are approximately 70 grasshoppers per square yard. They started showing up a couple of weeks ago but the infestation has just become worse.

"They'll take out a crop in a matter of days and you can poison them with a spray, you can create a buffer zone with poison, it's not a threat to pets or livestock. But you have to catch them early," he said. A grasshopper infestation is affecting some ranchers and farmers in Utah. A grasshopper infestation is affecting some ranchers and farmers in Utah. (Photo: Shelby Lofton, KSL-TV)

Utah's Department of Agriculture did give him poison for the grasshoppers.

"But we just didn't catch them in time, and they came on really quick," he said. "We're talking thousands of dollars in seed, in water, in time; not to mention, the lost feed," Dow said.

When Dow kicks up dirt, he is also kicking up insects.

"As we're driving through them with the side-by-side and they're jumping all over you, they land on your face. It's not a good feeling," he said. "They'll stick to your clothes and get in your pockets, they're just kind of nasty little creatures."

In a record water year, good for crops, Dow has faced the grasshopper infestation.

"We're just out here trying to make a living," he said.

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