The Grizzly Creek Fire stands out not for homes lost but for its strike at one of Colorado's most vital arteries: Interstate 70 through Glenwood Canyon.
Igniting August 10, 2020 in the steep, scenic Glenwood Canyon, the fire burned 32,631 acres and forced a complete two-week closure of I-70, a critical east-west corridor, snarling commerce and travel across the state.
The fire destroyed no homes, but its burn scar triggered repeated, dangerous debris flows and mudslides in 2021 that again shut down I-70 for extended periods. It became a textbook example of how post-fire watershed damage can rival the fire itself.
Every major Colorado fire reinforces the same lesson: the homes most likely to survive are the ones prepared before a fire starts. It showed that wildfire risk extends beyond homes to the roads, watersheds and infrastructure entire communities depend on. Creating defensible space, hardening the home against embers, and documenting the work for insurance and grant funding are the highest-leverage steps a homeowner can take.
Not sure where your property stands? Check your wildfire risk score in under a minute, watch for new starts on the active fires map, and set up emergency fire alerts so you never miss an evacuation order.
The Pine Gulch Fire (2020) burned 139,007 acres north of Grand Junction. Briefly Colorado's largest wildfire ever, cause, size, timeline and why it caused so little damage.
Read the overviewThe Cameron Peak Fire (2020) burned 208,913 acres in Larimer County, the largest wildfire in Colorado history. Size, cause, homes destroyed, timeline and aftermath.
Read the overviewThe Decker Fire (2019) burned 8,705 acres near Salida in the Sangre de Cristo range, burning into late October. Facts and context.
Read the overviewThe complete, searchable record of every major Colorado wildfire in history.
Open the full guide32,631 acres in Glenwood Canyon.
It closed Interstate 70 for two weeks and its burn scar caused repeated debris flows that closed the highway again in 2021.
