Tony Hake over at the Examiner compiled a list of the 30 largest wildfires in Colorado’s history, and guess what? The High Park fire, now having burned more than 50,000 acres, is already third on Hake’s depressing list. The 2002 Hayman fire, which burned a total of 137,760 acres, is the largest fire in Colorado’s history.
26 of Colorado’s 30 largest fires have occurred since the year 2000, and six of those have happened during this year alone.
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Ben Geman at The Hill wrote a post titled “Study: Climate change to increase wildfires,” but if the last ten years are any indication, wildfires have been increasing for some time now (in Colorado, at least.)
If Geman’s post is correct, then it’s likely that Colorado’s largest fires list will continue to need updating, and blazes such as the horrendous Little Bear fire in New Mexico may become more common.