Colorado Gov. Jared Polis and state officials warned of “significantly increased risk” of fires in the coming months during a briefing on the state’s wildfire outlook Thursday.
“There is significant drought conditions, which has caused a much higher fire risk for June and July in the Front Range of western Colorado, in particular,” Polis said, adding that wildfire risk is also being exacerbated by climate change, an increasing population and more people living in fire-prone areas.
The governor was joined by Mike Morgan, director of the state Division of Fire Prevention and Control, Stan Hilkey, executive director of the Department of Public Safety, Matt McCombs, director of the Colorado State Forest Service and other state and federal officials.
Officials said dry conditions will extend across the entire state, driven in large part by record-low snowpack, and predicted 95% of Colorado will experience various levels of drought during early summer.
In a typical year, Colorado sees between 6,000 and 7,000 wildfires. Morgan said the number will likely be higher this year as dry conditions persist. He added that the large, destructive fires that make headlines are only a small share of the thousands of wildfires crews respond to.
“I think a lot of our folks across the country, or across the state, think that all the only fires, wildfires we really have are the Elk Fire, the Marshall Fire, or the Lee Fire. You know, that's not the case,” Morgan said.
Fire activity has already picked up early in 2026. Crews have responded to multiple wildfire incidents and dropped hundreds of thousands of gallons of fire retardant so far this year.
“We're going to be facing a challenging fire season this year, and we know that's coming,” Hilkey said. “We've already had a challenging fire season, and actually using the term fire season doesn't make sense anymore. It's a fire year.”
Wildfire risk and drought also extend beyond Colorado’s borders. With neighboring states like Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona facing similar conditions, officials said shared firefighting resources will be in higher demand regionally.
“We know that during a challenging fire season across the western United States, we're going to be competing for resources,” Hilkey said.
Polis said that’s part of why Colorado has spent years building up its own firefighting capacity, including aircraft, helicopters, and ground crews, to respond more quickly when wildfires start.
“The state's come a long way over the last eight years, we can all feel safer because of where we are today,” Polis said. “But at the same time, risk has also increased, particularly this year, in a drought year, we're obviously worried about major fire events quickly eclipsing the only resources we have, and if so, we would tap into the national resources.”
Officials emphasized that early detection and aggressive initial response are critical to keeping small fires from becoming larger, more destructive events. They also urged the public to be especially careful not to spark fires.
“Typically, what we see is about, you know, 90% of fires are caused by some human action or inaction,” Morgan said. “A maintenance issue on a vehicle driving through grass with a hot catalytic converter, etc.”
He also pointed to mitigation efforts, like clearing vegetation around homes, as one of the most effective ways to reduce risk and potential damage.
Information on wildfire preparedness and risk is available through the state’s Wildfire Information Resource Center.
