BEAVER, Utah — While firefighters have been hard at work fighting what’s been called the state’s “most destructive fire in history”, what will be left after the final embers have been put out?

For Tucker High Adventure Tours co-owner Lane Tucker, it’s been a quiet day to catch up on some repairs.

Along with his father and brother, they offer backcountry skiing, rock climbing, backpacking trips and more.

Or they normally would before things came to a sudden halt after losing five of the nine condos they own to the Cottonwood Fire.

Several trip offerings have been cancelled as well, along with the popular local races like the “Crusher in the Tushar”. He estimates they’ll lose between $ 30,000 and $ 50,000 in revenue.

Despite the overwhelming uncertainty, Tucker is hopeful they can breathe new life into exploring these mountains once again.

“Some of those really thick tree stands and stuff…if the soil holds and if the snow comes in and holds well – there’s going to be some really sweet skiing,” he said. “If we just forget about it and it’s, ‘oh, that place got burned. It’s not going to be anything,’ – you’re going to be missing out.”

Businesses he’s worked with throughout the years have also been feeling the impact, Eagle Point in particular.

AMERICAN FORK, Utah (KUTV) — With students returning to classrooms next month, school districts across Utah are still working to fill hundreds of teaching positions, particularly in elementary and special education.

While Utah has one of the nation’s strongest teacher retention rates, staffing shortages remain a challenge as districts prepare for the start of the school year.

Parent Brenda Petroff said she believes low teacher pay continues to be one of the biggest factors contributing to the shortage.

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“Utah in general has a teacher shortage,” Petroff said. “They can get paid a lot more in other states.”

She said increasing teacher salaries could help attract and keep more educators in Utah classrooms.

“I just feel like they need to be paid more,” Petroff said. “I feel like they need to teach them things that they’re going to use in life.”

According to state data, hundreds of teaching positions remain open statewide, with elementary education among the areas experiencing the greatest need. State data also reports that about 11% of Utah teachers are considered underqualified or not fully qualified for the positions they currently hold.

Cami Harper, a former teacher turned executive director of human resources for the Alpine School District, said an underqualified teacher is someone who has not yet earned the appropriate license for the subject or grade level they are teaching.

“Luckily, the state has made it very easy and is willing to work with teachers to get a license to allow them to be qualified,” Harper said.

The Alpine School District is looking to hire about 22 teachers before the school year begins.

Harper said the district’s greatest staffing needs are in special education and certain specialized secondary subjects, where applicant pools tend to be smaller.

“For us and the state, special education is a very high-need area,” Harper said. “We’ve been blessed to have great candidates apply, but we don’t have as many applicants applying for those positions.”

Harper said Alpine has fewer vacancies than in previous years, in part because of declining enrollment — a trend affecting several districts across the state.

KUTV contacted nearly a dozen Utah school districts for updated vacancy numbers and information about their hiring efforts. Many district officials were unavailable because of the holiday week. This story will be updated as additional information becomes available.

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The move gives the Aggies “instant credibility” on the recruiting trail, Bronco Mendenhall says.