List of Colorado wildfires

A map showing the location of the U.S. State of Colorado.
The location of the State of Colorado in the United States of America.

This is a partial list of wildfires in the U.S. State of Colorado which have occurred periodically throughout its recorded history.[1]

One of the most significant fires in United States history was The Big Blowup of 1910.[2] In that fire, 3 million acres burned and 78 firefighters were killed in the northern Rocky Mountains (in the states of Washington, Idaho, and Montana) which led to a standing policy in Colorado of all fires out by 10 am.[3] The policy evolved over the 20th century.

The Colorado State Forest Service was established by the Colorado General Assembly in 1955 and oversees response to wildfires in Colorado.[not verified in body]

Part of the 2002 Colorado wildfires that burned nearly 360,000 acres, the Hayman Fire, was the largest wildfire in Colorado state history for nearly 20 years[4][5] until the Pine Gulch Fire surpassed it in August 2020.[6] The Cameron Peak Fire became the largest wildfire in Colorado history seven weeks later, at a size of 206,667 burned acres as of October 21, 2020. The 2012 Colorado forest fires broke the record for most destructive fire twice and led to declaration of a federal disaster area in June 2012.[7] The 2013 Colorado forest fires, fueled by high heat and winds[8] again broke the record for the most destructive and included what was the second largest fire (by area) in Colorado history until being surpassed by several fires in 2020. With multiple record-breaking fires, the 2020 Colorado wildfire season became the largest in the state's history after burning 665,454 acres (269,300 ha).[9]

  1. ^ Colorado State Forest Service. Wildfire Policy in Transition: Where There's Smoke, There's Mirrors. Archived 2010-06-11 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ Colorado State Forest Service. History of Significant Fires on State And Private Lands (acreage and/or home loss and/or fatalities). Archived 2013-11-08 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ Colorado State Forest Service. Presentation on Wildfire Policy in Transition Archived 2010-06-11 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ Colorado State Forest Service. Colorado Wildfires, State & Private Lands, 1978–2009. Archived 2010-06-13 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ Colorado State Forest Service.Colorado Wildfires Broken Down By Decade (with charts). Archived 2013-06-26 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ Pine Gulch fire becomes largest in Colorado history as firefighters near full containment, Colorado Sun, 27 August 2020, accessed 28 August 2020.
  7. ^ Associated Press (June 29, 2012). Obama declares disaster in Colorado as fires burn. Fox News
  8. ^ "Fire 30% contained, 473 homes burned". Denver Post. Retrieved 15 June 2013.
  9. ^ Ingold, John (October 20, 2020). "Five charts that show where 2020 ranks in Colorado wildfire history". Colorado Sun. Retrieved June 27, 2021.