“In 2020, firefighters proposed burning 312,943 piles of branches and logs throughout the state but were able to do only about 18% of that work, records show.”
The Marshall Fire killed two people and burned 1,084 homes after starting in overgrown grassland and unkempt ditches. Colorado crews managed 18% of their planned pile burns in 2020 and 55% of their larger burns. Rules differ across 64 counties, clean-air permits pile on, and some areas ban burning from November through February. The state regulates the small, planned fire to death and gets the big, unplanned one for free.