Comment on Colorado wildfires are more extreme than ever. Here’s how state leaders are fighting back.

Colorado wildfires are more extreme than ever. Here’s how state leaders are fighting back.

Colorado is covered with the scars of countless wildfires. In this undated file photo, an inspector looks at the charred gear of one of 14 firefighters who died in the 1994 South Canyon Fire near Glenwood Springs, Colorado. (Photo by Kent Meireis/The Denver Post) Some of them are just starting to heal, like the charred trees and ashy remains of homes burned by the Alexander Mountain fire that sparked west of Fort Collins this summer. Other scars are less visible but still keenly felt, like the 1994 South Canyon fire that remains the state’s deadliest wildfire on record. State and local fire officials say disasters like the South Canyon fire, which killed 14 firefighters on Storm King Mountain near Glenwood Springs, led to widespread changes to make the field safer. But now they’re contending with a changing reality: Though less deadly today, Colorado wildfires are becoming more extreme, and fire officials must seek new and better ways to prevent and fight them. The difference between Colorado wildfires today compared to 30 years ago is “almost mind-boggling,” said Vaughn Jones, wildland fire management section chief for the Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control. “We’re evacuating entire towns now, we’re closing down interstates, we’re disrupting interstate commerce.

 

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