Colorado's wildfire season has grown well beyond the confines of late spring to early fall, and past years have proven the term "wildfire season" is now outdated.
These 21st century fires are popping up year-round and evidence points to some cases where they are burning faster and hotter than before.
But amid the smoke is hope.
From wildfires like the massive East Troublesome Fire that nearly took out the town of Grand Lake, to ones that extinguished only after leaving behind historic destruction like the Marshall Fire — the aftermath was the same. Neighbors helping neighbors. Community turning both inward and outward to pick up the pieces together.
And researchers are on the front lines working on groundbreaking technology to detect wildfires faster, and snuff them out before they can threaten life or property.
Denver7 is taking a look at the reality of year-round wildfires in our new special "Burned Out."
You can watch the full special in the video below. It will also air on Denver7 on Thanksgiving at 6:30 p.m.
The science and technology — and animals — behind wildfire prevention
While it's not exactly new to say wildfires have become a year-round threat in Colorado, the technology is rapidly evolving as drones become more sophisticated, artificial intelligence (AI)'s breadth expands by the day, and cameras perch on high outposts searching for any trickle of smoke.
This summer, cameras equipped with AI were the first to spot the Bear Creek Fire, which broke out in Douglas County and was contained within a day.
"We do this by installing high-definition security cameras on mountaintop locations like cell towers, and we rotate the cameras 360 degrees every minute, looking for the first signs of a fire, both day and night, using artificial intelligence," Sonia Kastner, co-founder and CEO of Pano AI, told Denver7 in July. "This allows us to push out alerts to emergency managers and to enterprise customers so they can take action and contain fires while they're still small."
AI developed at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder allows scientists to identify the locations and amounts of dead or dying trees and vegetation in Colorado forests, which burn quickly and are a high risk. Having a map of these locations at the ready will better equip first responders so they show up at the right place at the right time, providing a vital head start that could save lives and property.
Boulder also serves as the home for testing the Next Generation Fire System, a new method that fire responders and meteorologists worked with this year at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Fire Weather Testbed.
"It’s really imperative to find that spot before it gets big because the smaller wildfires are, the easier they are to fight,” said Zach Tolby, manager of NOAA's Fire Weather Testbed. “The farther out you go into the mountains, into the forest, the less people you have and so the less opportunities you have for someone to see that new wildfire and call it in."
The Colorado legislature's Wildfire Matters Review Committee recently advanced legislation that included a bill that would provide $7.5 million to study and develop artificial intelligence applications to help with fires. Lawmakers have acknowledged that important data could be gleaned from this, but others bring up issues with the hefty price tag. This bill will be introduced in 2025.
Read more stories related to how AI is helping in wildfire prevention:
- Xcel Energy to deploy 21 fire detection cameras with AI technology in effort to prevent wildfires in Colorado
- Sensors can detect wildfires early, alert authorities to stop blaze
- Colorado lawmakers look to AI to detect wildfires early
After multiple Front Range wildfires this summer, officials from across the state gathered in September to learn about new fire detection technology, including the N5 Shield. This small sensor, installed in various locations, can "sniff out" smoke particulates and alert first responders of what may be brewing before it grows.
"This sensor allows for a notification to be made to my emergency operations center, to my cell phone, to my email saying, 'Hey, it's picking up something,'" said Nathan Whittington, emergency manager for Jefferson County. "We need to take a look at it. We need to investigate it a little bit more."
Drones have also come onto the scene as a helpful tool for detecting and responding to wildfires. This year, NOAA’s Physical Sciences Laboratory, based in Boulder, purchased a drone that can fly near wildfires and gather current data on air pressure, temperature, wind speed and direction, and relative humidity. This information can be crucial in both predicting wildfires and dealing with ones that have already started.
A much more imposing aircraft in Colorado is the Firehawk. This S-70M Black Hawk was outfitted to respond to any wildfires in Colorado within an hour, Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control (DFPC) said. It responded to several wildfires this year, including the human-caused Alexander Mountain Fire in Larimer County.
Some of the science of wildfire prevention and mitigation isn't nearly as complex as AI or top-tier aircraft, but still serves an important role.
Like goats.
Goat Green LLC. was hired by the City of Louisville after the Marshall Fire to bring hundreds of goats to fill their stomachs and graze on excess vegetation, creating a buffer for nearby homes. A few other hundred goats performed the same duties on Ken Mitchell Open Space in Brighton.
Other animals are also lending a helping hand... or paw.
This summer, the DFPC introduced its new member of the team, a young yellow Labrador named Ash. She is trained as both an accelerant detection canine and a therapy dog, and had investigated seven fires in her first few days on the job.
"If you and I made a pizza and we smell pizza, she would smell the oregano, the garlic — all the ingredients that make up that pizza, down to even the flour," her handler told us in August.
Prescribed burns have remained a crucial tool in the past few years as well, as they — like the goats — create a barrier between homes and a wooded or grassy area. Indigenous people have used this tactic for centuries, but it's only been adopted by fire managers much more recently. Just about a month ago, Rocky Mountain National Park conducted a prescribed burn at its most popular entry point.
But that's only the latest one.
Prescribed burns have become such a useful tool, they have been used throughout the year: Pikes Peak area in February, in March, April and May in Boulder, the Little Scraggy area of Jefferson County in June, and the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge in March and again in April, to name a few.
More Denver7 stories on wildfire prevention and suppression research:
- XPRIZE hosts summit for $11M wildfire competition, two years after most destructive wildfire in state history
- More Western states employ preemptive power shut-offs for wildfire prevention
- 'It's a big puzzle': How investigators pinpoint the origin of wildland fires
- Counties across Colorado look to new technology to help detect wildland fires earlier
Help and incentives to homeowners
Nearly 3 million Coloradans live in places where human development is close to places susceptible to fires — called the wildland-urban interface — the Colorado State Forest Service reported this spring.
And more people are moving to fire-prone areas.
It's a dangerous combination when paired with the number of wildfires in Colorado, which adds up to roughly 2,400 each year.
But communities are learning quickly and adapting.
In the years since the Marshall Fire in December 2021, Boulder County has taken a myriad of measures to prevent something like it from ever happening again.
For example, earlier this year, the county offered up to $500 as a rebate for homeowners who took wildfire mitigation measures around their residence. This included removing highly flammable vegetation like juniper bushes from yards, or replacing landscaping with noncombustible materials and exchanging wooden fencing for fire-resistance materials.
The 2024 program has closed and it is not yet clear if it will return in 2025.
The county also expanded its wildfire mitigation team in early 2023 to include 12 new hires.
This year, the City of Boulder launched the Wildfire Resilience Assistance Program, which can provide property owners up to $1,000 after Boulder Fire Rescue assesses their home for fire risks. The deadline for this round of grant funding is Nov. 30, but there are plans to launch a second round of funding in 2025.
Today, Boulder residents can use this interactive map to learn if their property is eligible for this assistance program.
The city also came out with a community wildfire protection plan in the spring, which was followed shortly afterward by a Boulder County-wide wildfire protection plan. Both dive into best practices to protect people and property from fires.
Similar stories are being played out across the state: Jefferson County is working to finalize its own Community Wildfire Protection Plan, as well as a new evacuation plan. The Roaring Fork Valley Wildfire Collaborative brought 18 local, county and federal agencies together in 2022 to create fire-resilient communities in western Colorado. And Douglas County committed more than $1.5 million to the county's wildland fire aerial firefighting contracts last year, and has funded dozens of projects to help homeowners and communities mitigate neighborhoods against the risk of wildfire.
More Denver7 reporting on wildfires and help for homeowners:
- 'Cutting edge': Inside a fire-resistant home built in the Marshall Fire burn area
- More than a million Coloradans live with elevated wildfire risk, Colorado State Forest Service says
- Wildfire smoke can stick around in your home. Here’s how to clean it up.
Some residents have taken matters into their own hands, like the Rebeschini-Glover family. The Superior family had to wait nearly three years to come back home after the Marshall Fire tore through their neighborhood. Their mudroom, which was built out of brick and stone, survived the blaze but the rest of the wood-framed home did not.
That old mudroom inspired the family to build what is now a new home constructed entirely of blocks and brick. It's called Ecoblox and it was created by the Colorado-based company Nova Terra. It can produce about 1,000 blocks a day, all made to withstand the test of time. About 15,000 were needed for the Rebeschini-Glover family home.
Want to learn more about wildfire risk in Colorado? Colorado State University has published a "Colorado Wildfire Risk Viewer" interactive map, where homeowners and business owners can identify wildfire risk, dive into local fire history and find resources about wildfire prevention and mitigation. To view the map, click here.
Supporting and retaining firefighters
Colorado's firefighters are put to the test every year. While their efforts are literally life-saving, the state needs many more of them.
Colorado is in need of 1,085 more firefighters and 1,327 more volunteer firefighters than it currently has over the next two years, according to a 2023 DFPC report. Firefighter shortage has become a pattern that is playing over and over around the United States, but Colorado is one of the states that has been hit the hardest.
On the national scale, the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) had hired 11,393 wildland firefighters by the end of July 2024, which was 101% of its goal for the year.
National
There aren't enough wildland firefighters to meet the growing need
"Even though we know this isn’t enough capacity to meet the needs of the ongoing wildfire crisis, this is the number of firefighters we can support with existing infrastructure, funding, and other resources," the USFS said.
Some of the biggest hurdles have included burnout and the low base pay of entry-level firefighters, which, thanks to the Infrastructure Bill, temporarily increased from $13 to $15 per hour, but that ended this fall. At the nationwide level, the Wildland Firefighter Pay Protection Act would make those pay increases permanent.
Wildfire
Deputy Sec. Beaudreau, Polis announce $228M for wildland fire management
Here in Colorado, local fire agencies have been vocal about the shortages they have faced. This is especially true in rural areas that don't always attract younger people to replace those who have retired or left their firefighting careers.
On Colorado's Eastern Plains, Elizabeth Fire Rescue is currently assisting other smaller agencies, because Kiowa, Limon and Agate are all experiencing these shortages. Kiowa Fire Chief Gerry Lamansky told Denver7 that the department only has five paramedics and on any shift, it could be down to only two firefighters. He often asks for help from other stations in Elbert County, but they're already stretched thin too.
"Responders out there aren't getting any younger, but they're being forced to stay on into older ages because there's nobody to take over for them," said Elizabeth Fire Chief TJ Steck.
Statewide, the Colorado Strategic Wildfire Action Program has invested more than $22.5 million since its inception in 2022 into supporting risk reduction in a couple different ways, including its Workforce Development Grant Program, which supports entry-level training for people interested in wildfire mitigation and forestry, according to the Department of Natural Resources. The grants will be awarded on Dec. 31.
This has supported Mile High Youth Corps, which expanded the number of 18- to 24-year-olds that it serves by 15%, meaning those young adults are gaining skills, certifications and experiences that translates into more forestry technicians, wildland firefighters and park rangers in Colorado, said Kia Abdool, chief executive officer for the Mile High Youth Corps.
Within the state legislature, the Wildfire Matters Review Committee has been examining legislation that would not only strengthen wildfire prevention and mitigation efforts, but would also boost the forestry workforce and promote firefighting opportunities.
Colorado has already passed several bills aimed at supporting firefighters in the past few years, such as HB18-1423 (Rural Fire Protection District Equipment Grants), SB20-057 (Fire Prevention & Control Employee Benefits), SB22-002 (Resources For Volunteer Firefighters), HB22-1194 (Local Firefighter Safety Resources) and SB23-013 (Fire Investigations).
Related:
- These heroic smokejumper crews leap toward danger to stop wildfires
- Team of DougCo deputies add wildland firefighter to job duties
- Colorado, USFS partner to expand app's capabilities to help with wildland firefighting
- Timberline Fire Protection District plans major improvements to cut down response times in the high country
Forest restoration and environmental impacts
As communities recover from wildfires, so do the forests.
Generally speaking, wildfires are a healthy part of a forest's ecological process, as it essentially wipes the landscape clean and allows for new growth. This gets rid of old or sickly vegetation and densely wooded spaces, leaving behind open space and nutrient-rich soil for new, healthy plants to sprout. But heavily wooded areas that are way past their due date for a fire can quickly become a disaster.
To give a healing forest a boost, environmental agencies — and volunteer groups — across the United States have seeded and planted at burn scars. But these replanting opportunities cannot keep up with how much land wildfires burn every year in the United States.
The country does not have the ability or staffing to collect enough seeds from living trees, grow them into seedlings at a nursery and replant them at a rate that would even remotely match the losses, researchers told the Associated Press.
“We need to start being creative if we want trees on our landscapes,” said Camille Stevens-Rumann, interim director at the Colorado Forest Restoration Institute. “We’re in a place of such drastic climate change that we are not talking about whether or not some of these places will be a different kind of forest, but whether or not they will be forests at all.”
Some of these burn scars will recover and see the new growth that becomes a healthy forest.
But others won't — even if they are seeded. That's the case for the 2002 Hayman Fire, where researchers have noted almost no tree regeneration in the severely burned areas.
Impacts from climate change, namely drought and other fires, are only making the situation tougher for seedlings to grow. But nature can be resilient. After 2020 wildfires reached Rocky Mountain National Park, serotinous cones, which rely on fire and heat to grow, thrived. Wildflowers shot out of the ground and added bursts of color to forests of blackened tree trunks.
"Vegetation like that, that's exactly what they needed," said Kyle Patterson, public affairs officer with the park. "... And so when you see a forest that is completely changed as a result of very high winds, extreme fire coming through, it's really hard to see that when you know it's never going to look the same as it did. And maybe it shouldn't look the same as it did — a bit healthier in the end."
Related to ecosystem health after a wildfire:
- Forest floor restoration working, closures lifted in Cameron Peak & East Troublesome burn scars
- Colorado researchers exploring rebuilding scorched forests amid climate change
- Climate-fueled wildfires worsen danger for struggling fish
- About $7M in new grants will support more than 30 forest health, wildfire mitigation projects across Colorado
- Invasive plants may be causing an increase in wildfires
- Why is flooding worse near areas burned by wildfire, and what can be done about it?
It's not only the forest that needs healing. Last fall, the USFS partnered with Trout Unlimited to restore aquatic systems lost in the Cameron Peak and East Troublesome fires, which are the two largest wildfires in state history.
The 10-year, $8 million partnership will "increase the pace and scale of post-fire recovery projects on the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests and more quickly restore access to areas impacted by fire," Trout Unlimited said. Likewise, in August 2023, Colorado Parks and Wildlife worked with Trout Unlimited to introduce 108,000 trout into the Poudre River in an effort to rebuild the river's fishery following the 2020 Cameron Peak Fire and a subsequent debris flow about a year later.
After the debris flow, the river was black and "just choked with sediment," which prevented fish's ability to exchange oxygen across their gills and they suffocated, CPW Aquatic Biologist Kyle Battige told Denver7. The endeavor they did last summer is important for the overall health of the ecosystem, he said.
This effort at the Poudre River is expected to continue for several more summers.
Future outlook
Increased heat and drought has been "a key driver" for wildfires in the western United States over the past two decades, according to NOAA.
"Research shows that changes in climate create warmer, drier conditions, leading to longer and more active fire seasons," it reported. "Increases in temperatures and the thirst of the atmosphere due to human-caused climate change have increased aridity of forest fuels during the fire season. These drivers were found to be responsible for over half the observed decrease in the moisture content of fuels in western U.S. forests from 1979 to 2015, and the doubling of forest fire burned area over the period 1984-2015."
A warming trend, paired with drought, has created an environment across Colorado's forests where insects and disease can thrive. The mountain pine beetle and spruce beetle have killed millions of acres of forests, leaving behind dead wood that is easily ignitable, according to the Colorado State Forest Service. Milder winters have also reduced how many bark beetle larvae die.
In January, Colorado State University released its report on climate change and the impacts it's having here in Colorado. The study looked at several key areas, such as temperature changes, changes in Colorado's water supply, and the future of climate extremes and wildfires in the state.
"As you are warming your fall months, you're extending the wildfire season," said Dr. Becky Bolinger, Colorado's assistant climatologist. "As you are melting snowpack earlier, you're increasing the risk of wildfires earlier in the season. As our air gets drier, which is another trend we are seeing with climate change, it allows fires to grow more quickly."
Just as winter turned to spring this year, members of the U.S. Fire Administration and the Department of Homeland Security testified in Washington, DC about how to properly respond to the increasing threat of wildfires. They came with 148 recommendations, with the top concern being preparing communities for wildfires, including those that may feel far removed from it.
The report reads: "The suite of recommendations that follow outline a new approach to wildfire, one that is proactive in nature, better matched to the immense scale and scope of the crisis, and more reflective of the multi-scalar, interrelated nature of the overall system. Importantly, just as there is no single cause of this crisis, there is no single solution."
However, the "core themes" amid the recommendations include greater coordination, interoperability, collaboration and simplification within the wildfire system, it reads.
By summertime, a new report published in the journal "Nature Ecology and Evolution" analyzed satellite data and found wildfires are becoming worse and more frequent around the world. The western United States was one of the main regions driving this trend.
Related stories about the future of wildfires in the United States:
- Wildfire risk is everywhere, and experts say the risk is getting worse
- Yes, wildfires are actually becoming more intense and more common, study says
- US push to lower wildfire risk across the West stumbles in places
- Wildfires in US have reversed 2 decades of progress in air quality
- CSU economics, environment expert examines cost of wildfires: 'How can we spend less?'
As bleak as that may sound, this knowledge can help neighborhoods, communities, states and the country make more informed decisions when it comes to fire management, prevention and action. Fire services around the United States are quickly evolving and welcoming in new technology that can enhance their capabilities. Prescribed burns have become a well-used tool for addressing at-risk areas before disaster strikes.
But it can all start at home too.
Live Wildfire Ready Colorado — which is supported by the state, USFS, DFPC, Colorado State Forest Service and Colorado State Fire Chiefs — offers some easy, low-cost ways to start to prepare for a wildfire. And your local office for emergency management offers free emergency notifications that can be delivered right to your phone or email.
Denver7 has you covered if you want to learn more about wildfires in Colorado. Visit our Denver7.com/wildfire to learn more about these stories and resources available.
Watch the full "Burned Out" special in the video below.