Wildfires have always been around here in Colorado. Because Colorado is “high desert”, it is susceptible to wildfires in the summer. As we have found out this winter, Colorado is also susceptible to wildfires during very dry winters. During the summer of 2002, Colorado was in its fourth year of drought with no foreseeable break in the trend. Dormant fuels had been building up all over the state for years and Colorado had turned into a tinderbox waiting for a spark. That spark came on June 8th just south of Tarryall Creek and Highway 77 near Tappan Mountain. A very aggressive attempt was made to attack the fire on June 8th with ground crews, air tankers, helicopters, and engines but the ground practically exploded and the fire groaned and then roared to life. The fire burned for the next 20 days not being fully contained until June 28th. Over the course of 20 days, 138,114 acres were burned, consuming 794 homes and buildings. Historically, wildfires have always been a part of the West. They have occurred since before recorded events in North America, and were part of the natural course of the Rocky Mountains. In August of 1910, a fire swept through the Northern Rockies burning over 3.1 million acres, killing 78 firefighters and seven civilians, and destroying several communities in Idaho and Montana. It was this devastating fire that left such a negative feeling toward wildfires in the West that has forged the publics and policymakers’ ethics and decisions to this day. Fires are to be attacked aggressively and extinguished as quickly as possible. This policy, inadvertently, was one of the leading causes of the Haymen fire. Beginning in 1998 blow normal precipitation and very dry air-systems prevailed over Colorado. These conditions occurred about the same time as the La Nina was forming in the Eastern Pacific Ocean. Hot, dry summers were culminated by worsening drought conditions during the winter of 2001/2002. On June 8th 2002, there was a low pressure system over Washington State and a high pressure system over the Texas Panhandle which pushed the temperatures upwards as well as creating high wind conditions along the Front Range and in the Haymen fire area. The ground (surface fuels) consisted of ponderosa pine duff and needles, short grasses, and scattered shrubs. Low crowns on the predominant forests of ponderosa pine, Douglas fir and blue spruce were the main cause of the fire to convert from a ground (surface) fire to a crown (tops of the trees) fire. The conditions of June 8th with the extent of the ongoing drought, overpopulated forests, thick ground litter, particularly dry air (five to eight percent humidity) with high winds, and the topography of the area were the ideal conditions for a fire of the magnitude that was seen in the Haymen fire. The speed of the fire was unprecedented as only 290 acres had burned on June 8th but had already spread to 60,878 acres by the end of the day on June 9th. Because the fire had moved from a ground fire to a predominantly crown fire, the aggressive firefighting of the 8th was unable to prevent the breakneck speed at which the fire grew and raced out of control. Major effects of the fire include the obvious destruction of large tracts of forested areas, but also the loss of sediment due to erosion and the destruction of organic materials underground due to the intense heat of the fire. Major water sources of the Front range have been affected by the soil erosion of the area and it’s affects are still being looked at to this day. All of the communities within or near the fire area are also still being affected by the soil erosion and flash floods causing even more property damage. For more information, look at the findings of the United States Department of Agriculture, the Forest Service, and the Rocky Mountain Research Station found in the General Technical Report RMRS-GIR-114 titled Haymen Fire Case Study.