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Wildfires in Colorado
Detected · VIIRS 375 m · Suomi NPP, NOAA-20, NOAA-21 · last 24 hours · updated 2026-10-11 11:24 UTC
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Fire history, 2012–2025
Detected · VIIRS S-NPP 375 m · 0.01° cells (~1.1 km) · complete years 2012–2025 · built 2026-09-23
Between 2012 and 2025, VIIRS detected fire in 16,890 km² of Colorado at least once. In an average year it detected fire in 1,370 km², ranking 26th of 51 regions of United States.
Year by year
Detected area per year, km². Area of 0.01° cells with at least one detection in the year.
The busiest year was 2020, with 3,630 km² detected; the quietest was 2022, with 657 km². The 2021–2025 average is 19% lower than the 2012–2016 average.
Through the year
Share of all fire-days 2012–2025 by month. A fire-day is one cell with a detection on one day.
June, July and August together hold 48% of the fire-days in the record. The single busiest day was 22 October 2020, with detections in 637 cells.
Ground that burns again
Of the 16,890 km² with at least one detection, 2.1% had detections in three or more different years.
| Years with a detection | km² | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 1 year | 15,280 | 90% |
| 2 years | 1,260 | 7.4% |
| 3 to 5 years | 303 | 1.8% |
| 6 to 10 years | 28 | 0.2% |
| 11 years or more | 20 | 0.1% |
The half-degree square with the most fire-days is centred at 38.25, -104.75 and holds 10% of the region's fire-days.
The figures
Show the table
| Year | Detected km² | Fire-days |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 1,760 | 3,694 |
| 2013 | 1,310 | 2,550 |
| 2014 | 668 | 1,186 |
| 2015 | 904 | 1,541 |
| 2016 | 1,340 | 2,680 |
| 2017 | 1,150 | 2,072 |
| 2018 | 2,700 | 5,626 |
| 2019 | 913 | 1,838 |
| 2020 | 3,630 | 8,438 |
| 2021 | 873 | 1,538 |
| 2022 | 657 | 1,101 |
| 2023 | 894 | 1,717 |
| 2024 | 783 | 1,440 |
| 2025 | 1,670 | 3,311 |
Other regions of United States
- Texas13,010 km² in an average year
- Georgia10,210 km² in an average year
- California9,720 km² in an average year
- Florida8,510 km² in an average year
- Kansas6,780 km² in an average year
- Oklahoma6,770 km² in an average year
- How these figures are madeDetected area, cells, and the single-satellite record.
Detected area counts every 0.01° cell with at least one VIIRS detection, so a small fire counts as a whole cell and a fire missed by cloud or between passes is absent. Borders: Natural Earth 1:10m. 2012 begins on 20 January.
Nearby regions
- Wyoming357 km
- New Mexico673 km
- South Dakota678 km
- Utah698 km
- Texas720 km
- Kansas741 km