Colorado’s Most Destructive Wildfire Caused by Embers From Old Fire, Sparks From Power Line

Embers from a smoldering scrap wood fire outside a home days earlier and a sparking power line caused a Colorado wildfire fanned by high winds that destroyed nearly 1,100 homes and left two people dead, authorities said.

The Dec. 30, 2021, blaze in heavily populated suburbs between Denver and Boulder caused $2 billion in damage, making it the most destructive in Colorado history. Two people were also found dead after what was known as the Marshall Fire.

The inferno erupted following months of drought amid a winter nearly devoid of snow and fed on bone- dry grassland surrounding fast-growing development in the area near the Rocky Mountain foothills. It spread rapidly in winds that gusted up to 100 mph in places.

There is no evidence to support criminal charges against anyone for the fire, Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty said at a news conference.

The scrap wood fire – buried by residents Dec. 24 and OK’d by firefighters who stopped by that day to investigate – was one cause when the powerful winds uncovered the buried embers six days later, Sheriff Curtis Johnson said at the news conference.

A loose Xcel Energy power line caused a separate fire less than half a mile (away around the same time, Johnson said.

The two fires combined to cause the massively destructive blaze.

Experts say similar events will become more common as climate change warms the planet and suburbs grow in fire-prone areas.