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Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
A stand of burned trees and charred ground is seen in Larimer County after the Cameron Peak fire ripped through the landscape.
Charred tree trunks rise from the mountains along the burn scar of the Cameron Peak Fire, a scene so alien one Larimer County commissioner could only describe it as a “lunar landscape.”
Colorado officials hope this sight the aftermath of the largest wildfire in state history leads the federal government to pump more dollars into preventing fires and dealing with their effects.
Gov. Jared Polis and leaders from all levels of government toured the burn scar along the Cache de Poudre River Friday. The group included U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, as well as U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse and U.S. Sen. Michael Bennett, Democrats who have emphasized wildfire prevention and the restoration of public lands during the first months of the Biden administration.
Motorists evacuate Granby as the East Troublesome fire burns nearby Thursday, Oct. 22, 2020.
Congressional leaders agree the western United States is at dire risk of destructive wildfires but continue to spar over who or what is to blame for their increased threat.
The gap was evident during a hearing Thursday by the U.S. House Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands, chaired by Democratic Colorado Rep. Joe Neguse. In his new role, Neguse has emphasized the need to improve response to wildfires, particularly on preventing massive ones from growing and ravaging states.
Democrats said the effect of climate change fueling bigger, less predictable wildfires should not be overlooked. Republicans said it is the federal approach to fire prevention over the last few decades that has crowded forests with dense, overgrown trees.
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Corbis via Getty Images
Civilian Conservation Corps worker Carl Simon installs insulators on top of a telephone pole about 1940 in Superior National Forest in Minnesota.
It’s December 2025, the end of a difficult year. Just a few months earlier, a massive hurricane destroyed dozens of homes in your town, even killed a few of your neighbors. Your house was fine, but you lost power for weeks. The waterfront park where you liked to eat lunch between shifts as a cashier is underwater. Trees are still down, and mudslides cover several roads, making it basically impossible to pick up the extra money you made driving an Uber. Despair starts to eclipse the guilt you feel for surviving the storm.