| 2024 Colorado wildfires | |
|---|---|
 The Spruce Creek Fire, which burnt 5,699 acres of land in the San Juan National Forest | |
| Season | |
← 2023 2025 → |
The 2024 Colorado wildfire season was a series of wildfires that burned in the U.S. state of Colorado during 2024.
While "fire season" varies every year in Colorado, most wildfires occur in between May and September, but there is a fire risk year-round. Large wildfires have become more common mostly because of drought, high winds, and vegetation growth. Climate change has increased temperatures and decreased humidity in Colorado and sometimes reduces spring snowmelt, both of which contribute to fire conditions. [1]
By early August, Colorado tallied a substantial share of wildfire activity across the western United States, with the Front Range region particularly hard hit. The Bucktail Fire, which began on August 1 in Montrose County, ultimately burned 7,202 acres, making it the second-largest blaze of the season and causing criminal charges when it was found to have been accidentally started during an attempt to cremate a dog. [2] Even earlier, the Spruce Creek Fire, ignited by lightning in mid-May near Dolores, charred 5,699 acres—the season’s first major wildfire—before being fully contained by the end of May. [3]
That spring and summer period was marked by volatile conditions, with rapid fire spread spurred by dry fuels, high winds, and low humidity. The Alexander Mountain Fire, which started near Loveland in late July, burned over 9,000 acres and destroyed dozens of homes, prompting aggressive containment strategies including backburning near Drake. [4] Another grim development occurred along the Front Range, where the Stone Canyon Fire, at roughly 1,500 acres, killed one person and destroyed five structures, leading officials to caution that resources were stretched thin across multiple simultaneous incidents. [5]
Wildfire spending this year exceeded $40 million for suppression alone—an expenditure driven largely by large incidents such as the South Rim and Turner Gulch Fires, which accounted for nearly three-quarters of that total. [6] In the face of sustained drought and staffing challenges at the federal level, Colorado’s governor also allocated $7 million in state wildfire mitigation grants—a targeted response to bolster community resilience amid growing fire risk. [7]
The following is a list of fires that burned more than 1,000 acres (400 ha), or produced significant structural damage or casualties.
| Name | County | Acres | Start date | Containment date [a] | Notes | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Range 153 | El Paso | 1,816 | February 25 | March 5 | Human-caused about 10 miles (16 km) southwest of Fountain. | [9] [10] |
| Range 135 | El Paso | 7,744 | February 29 | March 5 | [11] | |
| Boggsville | Bent | 1,062 | March 2 | March 18 | Burned about 2 miles (3.2 km) south of Las Animas. Closed State Highway 101 and U.S. Route 50 and prompted evacuations for Las Animas. | [12] [13] [14] |
| Range 127 | El Paso | 1,132 | April 15 | May 13 | Human-caused. Burned near Fort Carson. | [15] [16] |
| Spruce Creek | Montezuma | 5,699 | May 14 | May 31 | Caused by lightning 11 miles (18 km) northeast of Dolores. | [17] [18] |
| Rabbit Valley | Mesa | 1,505 | June 17 | June 20 | Burned near Utah border | [19] [20] |
| Oak Ridge | Pueblo, Custer | 1,310 | June 22 | July 24 | Caused by lightning 3 miles (4.8 km) northeast of Beulah. | [21] |
| 104 | Weld | 1,782 | July 28 | July 31 | [22] | |
| Alexander Mountain | Larimer | 9,668 | July 29 | August 17 | [23] [24] [25] | |
| Stone Canyon | Boulder | 1,557 | July 30 | August 4 | Burned outside of Lyons. Destroyed six structure and killed one person. Undetermined cause. | [26] [27] [28] |
| Bucktail | Montrose | 7,078 | August 1 | August 21 | Started by a man attempting to cremate his dog. Damaged one structure. | [29] [30] |
| Big Gulch | Moffat | 1,164 | August 7 | August 9 | Likely caused by lightning. | [31] [32] |
| Wildhorse 5 | Weld | 1,200 | September 29 | October 1 | Human-caused. Burned 10 miles (16 km) north of Briggsdale in Pawnee National Grassland. | [33] [34] |
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