The five largest wildfires in Colorado history
The Cameron Peak Fire of 2020 was (as of June 2022) the largest wildfire in Colorado state history, surpassing the Pine Gulch Fire earlier that year.
Fort Collins Coloradoan
The Alexander Mountain fire was fully contained last weekend. The final number of hectares burned remains at 9,668 hectares.
But how big is this fire and how often do fires of this type occur?
Here are five charts (and a map) that put wildfires and related trends into a larger context.
1. Size reference for the Alexander Mountain Fire
If the fire had burned in a perfect square, it would have been about 3.9 miles (6.3 kilometers) long. That would fit roughly between Mulberry Street, Harmony Road, College Avenue, and Interstate 25.
The Horsetooth Reservoir’s water surface area is approximately 780 hectares, making the fire about five times larger.
2. Alexander Mountain Fire Compared to the Five Largest Fires in Colorado History
Although the area burned seems huge compared to Fort Collins, the Alexander Mountain Fire is still more than ten times smaller than the largest fires in Colorado history.
3. The 20 largest fires in Colorado and when they occurred
Colorado has seen the 20 largest wildfires of this century and four of the five largest wildfires since 2018, according to the Department of Fire Prevention and Suppression.
More: The 20 largest wildfires in Colorado occurred this century. How things change.
4. Total area burned per year
Although there is no steady increase, there were no years before 2000 in which more than 40,000 hectares of land burned. Since 2000, however, almost half of the years have exceeded this six-digit mark.
Last year, researchers from Colorado State University’s statistics department published a study on how wildfire risk has changed in our current climate.
They found that the likelihood of a fire season like the one in 2020 is four to ten times higher today than under previous climate conditions.
5. Increase in days with fire weather
According to an analysis by Climate Central, there are now 25 more wildfire days per year in Colorado’s Platte Basin than in 1973.
The analysis used temperature, humidity and wind speed data from over 400 weather stations in the United States over the past five decades. The results show that the wildfire season in the West is becoming longer and more intense.
6. Breakdown of wildfire costs in the US
The increasing tendency for wildfires and the likelihood of intense fire seasons can lead to costly damage.
A 2023 report by the Democratic Congress’s Joint Economic Committee shows how these costs break down.
“The total cost of wildfires in the United States ranges from $394 billion to $893 billion per year. This range was calculated by combining estimates from existing research on the specific costs associated with property damage, direct and indirect deaths and injuries, health impacts from wildfire smoke, income losses, watershed pollution, and a number of other factors,” the report said.
The pie chart shows the upper end of these costs.
The report also points out that their range is “significantly higher than existing estimates in the literature, which put the total cost of wildfires at $87.4 billion to $427.8 billion in 2022, based on a smaller subset of costs.”
It also says that their estimate is likely an underestimate because some associated costs have not yet been fully quantified by researchers.
“These additional costs include: the damage that post-fire erosion causes to agriculture, increasing the likelihood of landslides and flooding; the cost of post-wildfire restoration to help restore burn scars and other parts of the ecosystem; and the cost of managed retreat when certain areas become too fire-prone to live in,” the report said.
