Early Colorado fires

Colorado is two and a half weeks into spring, and one fire south of Colorado Springs has already burned 7,300-plus acres near Fort Carson after starting on March 18. By March 27, the 24 Fire was still listed at 7,385 acres even as containment climbed and Highway 115 reopened. (coloradosun.com) (koaa.com) That is early for a fire this large, and it is happening in a part of Colorado that has spent much of 2026 under repeated fire-weather alerts. Southern Colorado had already logged 25 red flag warning days by March 13, which KOAA said was far above anything seen in the past 20 years for the same point in the year. (koaa.com) A red flag warning is the weather service’s way of saying the landscape is set up for fast fire growth: dry air, warm temperatures, and strong wind in the same place at the same time. The National Weather Service’s fire-weather pages track those conditions because a small spark can turn into a moving fire line when grass and brush have already dried out. (weather.gov) The 24 Fire also shows why people along the Front Range worry about grass fires as much as forest fires. Fires in open prairie can move quickly toward subdivisions, roads, and military land, which is why homeowners on the east side of Colorado Springs have been preparing for fire coming off neighboring grassland. (koaa.com) At the same time, Colorado has also seen the smaller version of the same problem. In Boulder, the Goat Trail Fire started around 3:19 a.m. on April 8 near Hawthorne Avenue and burned about 1.7 to 2 acres before crews stopped it. (bouldercolorado.gov) That Boulder fire did not destroy any structures, and officials lifted all evacuation warnings after declaring it 100% contained. But the city still closed the Goat Trail area after the fire, a reminder that even a two-acre burn can disrupt neighborhoods and public land access when it starts close to homes. (bouldercolorado.gov 1) (bouldercolorado.gov 2) Colorado’s fire agencies have spent years warning that the state no longer has a neat summer-only wildfire season. The Colorado State Forest Service now points residents to year-round wildfire information and restrictions, reflecting how fires can break out well before the hottest part of the year. (csfs.colostate.edu) So the early 2026 pattern is not one giant statewide disaster yet. It is a large March fire near Colorado Springs, a small April fire in Boulder, and a long run of red flag days in between — enough to show that Colorado entered fire season before many people would normally think it had started. (coloradosun.com) (bouldercolorado.gov) (koaa.com)