Colorado Had A Bad Wildfire Season, But Compared To California, ‘We Got Lucky’

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Photo: California Wildfire Home Destroyed - AP
Kim Burns sifts through the charred rubble of her home burned in the Carr Fire, Sunday, Aug. 12, 2018, in Redding, Calif.

The 2018 Colorado wildfire season brought a number of destructive blazes, including the second-largest in state history, the Spring Creek Fire. But as bad as the Centennial State has had it, California has been hit much worse. Wildfires have killed at least eight people and razed more than a thousand homes there.

What made the California fires so much worse this year? A lack of funding for true fire mitigation is a factor there, but the same can be said for Colorado. More than anything else, Colorado just got lucky. Jeff Ravage, who handles forest mitigation procedures for the Coalition for the Upper South Platte, talked to Colorado Matters about the worst case scenario for wildfire season.