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Colorado Fire One For The Record Books


Jun 20, 2012 by

High Park fire

Smoke from the High Park fire seen from the Incident Command Post at the Colorado National Guard Readiness Center near Fort Collins, CO.


The largest wildfire in Colorado is near Ft. Collins and is now reportedly 50 percent contained, after burning for 10 days.

But how big is this fire, jumpstarted by lightning?

Nationally, last June the average acres burned per fire was 204.8, according to NOAA. In 2002, it was 284.2 acres.

In Colorado, the average acres burned per fire from 2000-2009 (pdf) was 39.12.

To get a sense of the scale of the High Park fire, on Tuesday the US Forest Service reported that 58,770 acres had been burned. That’s more than the total burned in Colorado for the year in 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2009. The decade average for the 1990s is less than half that of this fire, 21,796 acres.

Smoke from the fire has traveled 60 miles to Denver.

Earlier this year, scientists at the University of Oregon predicted an increase in fires due to “a perfect storm” of conditions.

While grazing and fire suppression have kept incidents of wildfires unusually low for most of the last century, the amounts of combustible biomass, temperatures and drought are all rising. “Consequently, a fire deficit now exists and has been growing throughout the 20th century, pushing fire regimes into disequilibrium with climate,” the team concludes.

[...]

In their analysis, Marlon and colleagues used existing records on charcoal deposits in lakebed sediments to establish a baseline of fire activity for the past 3,000 years. They compared that with independent fire-history data drawn from historical records and fire scars on the landscape.

[...]

“We can use the relationship between climate and fire,” Marlon said, “to answer the question: What would the natural level of fire be like today if we didn’t work so hard to suppress or eliminate fires? The answer is that because of climate change and the buildup of fuels across the western U.S., levels of burning would be higher than at any time over the past 3,000 years, including the peak in burning during the Medieval Climate Anomaly.”

[...]

“Policymakers and others need to re-evaluate how we think of the past century to allow us to adjust and prepare for the future,” [Bartlein] said. “Recent catastrophic wildfires in the West are indicators of a fire deficit between actual levels of burning and that which we should expect given current and coming climate conditions. Policies of fire suppression that do not account for this unusual environmental situation are unsustainable.” (emphasis added)

Buckle your seat belts.

P.S. Wildfires are directly correlated with snow melt (early or late) and ambient temperatures (pdf).

P.P.S. According to the drought monitor, my native southwest Georgia is in a class 4 “exceptional” drought. Drought conditions have eased in Texas but not in southwest Georgia.

Photo credits: Official Army National Guard photo by 2nd Lt. Skye Robinson

Fire Information Report for High Park
Wildland Fire Incident
Report Date: 19-JUN-12
Burnt Area: 58,770 Acres (4% increase from yesterday)
Location: Larimer County, CO (15 miles west of Fort Collins, CO)
Cause: Lightning
Containment Status: (50% contained)
Expected Containment: Unknown
Fuels: Grass, Brush, and Timber High 14700000.00 1773PRIM
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1 Comment

  1. DR. CLARISSA PINKOLA ESTÉS, Managing Editor of TMV, and Columnist
    June 20, 2012 | 6:38 am

    thanks Kathy for your caring article. I was teaching up at Sunrise, just at the edge of the fire, and we got word it was six and then suddenly three miles away and got out the day it advanced. At the time is was 5000 acres on fire. And you see how quickly it advanced to tens of thousands of acres as you noted.

    As of tonight, here there are about 1800 firefighters on the ground. Brave men and women have come from all over the USA, including canada and overseas, to help. The fire is in dense pine forest that goes on for miles and miles without relief, and our pine trees are filled with deadwood inside their canopies as are all pine trees and go up like roman candles and throw fireballs.

    The wind has been a huge factor in spreading the fire across river and roads. More than 180 family homes have been destroyed and innumerable horses and cattle and wild life that could not escape the sudden walls of fire that leapt up to thirty feet high.

    Several hundred families are evacuated and living together in various nearby locations and the Red Cross, Salvation Army and National Guard are on the ground helping esp those who have no homes left.

    One woman, well loved in the community died in the first days of the fire.

    Here in Denver, you cannot see the sun for days on end, and the ash and smoke in the air and detritus from pine sap and home materials burning has effected many people’s lungs and eyes, making it hard to breathe and to see. The wolf sanctuary was evac’d successfully we think.

    And we have been praying for rain, [we have been in drought in colo, new mexico, texas, ariz and parts of nevada and utah for several years now. It isnt that we dont have snow and rain, we do. Just not enough) and I hope all will join us in our daily nightly prayers that all be kept safe including all evacs, all people downwind in this thick smoke, and, that no flames entrap anyone, that enough firejumpers come so that firefighters can rest in shifts. They are all still working a 16-20 hour day. They have done miraculous work in getting a truly voracious and deadly fire over half contained now over a huge, huge area as you pointed out Kathy. Again, thank you.