The West is on fire, again.
Trapped in a heat dome with low humidity and 90 days of drought conditions, following a cool, wet spring, our forests are now laden with kindling ready for the smallest spark.
Colorado has been here before. We had almost three years of respite without a wildfire fatality, significant acreage loss or structure damages. But The Front Range still hasn’t recovered from the devastating Marshall fire in 2021 that burned 1,084 suburban homes, killing two people and costing an estimated $2 billion.
The Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control called the wildfire a “tipping point” in an in-depth analysis of the tragedy, asking for “collective action to address well-documented and severe risks to the lives and livelihood of Coloradans.”
“If the Marshall Fire is not that tipping point, it may not exist at all, and governments may be willing to enact change in response to market forces,” the report said in a dire prediction that the only way to bring about change is for multibillion-dollar disasters to wreak financial havoc on the state making homes uninsurable and forcing action.
Now Coloradans are battling four wildfires on the Front Range and one in Delta County simultaneously in unfavorable conditions. As of Friday, at least one person had been killed, 30 structures destroyed and tens of thousands of acres had burned.
The potential for catastrophe is palpable.
Gov. Jared Polis warned on Wednesday that these fires could burn uncontrolled for weeks and could rival 2020 in the scope of destruction. But Polis and his team are certainly not surprised. The state has been preparing.
Four of the top five largest wildfires in Colorado history have occurred in the last three years, and all of Colorado’s 20 largest wildfires have occurred since 2001. The warming, drying climate is to blame for the worsening wildfire conditions.
In four years the Polis administration has invested $145 million toward fire mitigation, including the creation of Colorado’s Strategic Wildfire Action Program with legislation in 2021. The money has meant grants for wildfire mitigation, forest treatments and watershed protection. For example, the Upper Yampa water district received a $1 million grant which was used to leverage another $700,000 in local and federal funding to reduce hazardous fuels in the Bear River watershed. A fire in that area would be catastrophic for water quality in Routt County and the project will begin next year.
Gov. John Hickenlooper created the first program for Colorado to manage its own wildfire-fighting aviation team, and later funded a division to research and implement the most effective firefighting technology and techniques.
No one was under the illusion that such investments could prevent wildfires, but the goal is to prevent death and destruction and contain wildfires in size, while protecting critical watersheds and other critical ecosystems.
Our hearts go out to those who have lost homes and loved ones in these fires, and to those evacuated from their homes awaiting news and praying for improved conditions.
Fortunately, Colorado’s firefighting heroes are on the scene. Five firefighters were injured Wednesday by heat exhaustion and medical conditions. These men and women put their lives on the line to save people, pets, and homes. Resources are stretched thin, not only across the multiple blazes in Colorado but across the West where we’ve shared our firefighting capabilities with others.
U.S. Sens. John Hickenlooper and Michael Bennet teamed up with Reps. Brittany Pettersen and Joe Neguse to request available engines, planes, helicopters, and personnel from the National Interagency Fire Center. Stan Hilkey, executive director of Colorado’s Department of Public Safety, asked Colorado agencies to recall any resources loaned out to other states and Canada in recent weeks.
“I’d feel a lot more comfortable if we had those resources back as soon as possible,” Hilkey told The Denver Post.
These next three weeks will be a test of Colorado’s preparation and resolve to meet the growing threat of wildfires. Forests will burn, and in some places, the destruction will rejuvenate unhealthy habitats full of beetle kill, poor soils, and other problems.
But we are grateful for those fighting day and night to protect Colorado’s special places and our developed lands. More fires will come in the future and if the state can meet this moment, we’ll have hope that the Marshall fire “tipping point” served a purpose.
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