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NPR Coverage of the 2002 Fire Season
 Colorado Wildfires
Arizona Wildfires
Fire Prevention and Prediction
Stories on Policy and Costs
Stories on Colorado Fires
 Western Wildfires
June 23, 2002
Wildfires continue to blaze in a number of Western states, including Arizona and Colorado. Mitch Teich has this report from outside Durango, Colo., where authorities try to contain the Missionary Ridge fire.
Missionary Ridge Fire
June 22, 2002
Near Durango, Colorado, more than 2,000 people were ordered to leave their homes with the spread of the Missionary Ridge fire. As Mitch Teich reports, it may not be the largest of the fires burning in the Western states, but it is the most threatening.
Colorado Wildfire Forensics
June 19, 2002
A federal grand jury indicts a U.S. Forest Service employee for deliberately setting a wildfire that burned more than 100,000 acres. Terry Lynn Barton reported the Hayman Fire southwest of Denver, which she's now accused of starting. Liane Hansen talks about the investigation with Michael Janofsky, National Correspondent for The New York Times.
Colorado Fires
June 12, 2002
NPR's Howard Berkes reports on massive wildfires in Colorado. Thousands of people had to evacuate homes and businesses as the fires moved into populated areas. Today, calmer winds and newly arrived personnel help in the fight against a fire that came dangerously close to thousands of homes south of Denver.
Colorado Fires
June 12, 2002
The largest wildfire in Colorado's history, encompassing 86,000 acres, is a mere seven miles from some of Denver's suburbs. NPR's Howard Berkes reports the fire is too hot for firefighters to confront head-on, so they are attacking from the sides as it creeps along the Rocky Mountain's Foothills just 35 miles from downtown Denver.
Colorado Wildfires
June 11, 2002
NPR's Howard Berkes reports from the scene of the wildfires raging throughout Colorado. Thousands of people in the outlying areas of Denver are told to be prepared to evacuate if wind shifts and sends the blazes closer to inhabited areas.
Stories on Arizona Fires
Battling the Blazes
July 5, 2002
Karen Grigsby Bates hears from Rick Hartigan of the Center West Zone Incident Management Team about the battle against the largest wildfire in Arizona history.
Arizona Fire Arrest
July 1, 2002
A part-time firefighter is charged with starting the largest wildfire in Arizona's history. Prosecutors say Leonard Gregg set the blaze so he could earn money working on a fire crew. Mitch Teich reports for Arizona Public Radio.
Man Charged with Starting Rodeo Fire
June 30, 2002
In Arizona, an employee with the Bureau of Indian Affairs is charged with starting one of the two wildfires that together, have burned more than 450,000 acres. Mitch Teich reports.
Arizona Fires to Merge?
June 23, 2002
In Arizona, two wildfires are on the verge of becoming one 50-mile long wall of flames. The fires have already burned nearly 200 homes. Host Korva Coleman talks with fire spokesman Jim Paxon in the town of Show Low, which was evacuated late Saturday.
Arizona Wildfires
June 21, 2002
Hot winds fan the flames of wildfires in Arizona, where firefighters try to protect homes. Thousands are evacuated from Pinedale, Clay Springs and Linden. The blaze known as the Rodeo fire has burned at least a dozen homes. Liane Hansen talks with Sadie Babits of Arizona Public Radio about the fire-fighting efforts.
Fire Prevention Stories
Physics of Fire
July 2, 2002
NPR's Joe Palca reports on scientists who study fires in search of patterns that will help them predict, and ultimately fight, future fires. As fires burn across many states this summer, fire researchers predict that forests will experience more blazes throughout the year.
Fire Nerve Center
June 27, 2002
NPR's Elizabeth Arnold reports from the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho, on the intense beginning to the fire season in the Western United States. Forecasters expect the situation to get worse, but a team at the Fire Center in Boise is working to try to predict where, when, and how to fight the fires as they continue throughout the season and in the years to come.
Stories on Policy and Costs
Fire Prevention Funds
July 17, 2002
NPR's Howard Berkes reports that federal land managers may have to divert funds that were planned for other activities to firefighting efforts.
Forest Thinning
July 12, 2002
Lynn Neary talks with NPR's Elizabeth Arnold about accusations that environmental groups have stalled proposals to thin western forests to reduce wildfire risk. Two contradictory reports -- one from the General Accounting Office and the other from the Forest Service -- suggest that each side is manipulating data to suit its own purposes.
Fire Fingerpointing
July 5, 2002
NPR's Elizabeth Arnold reports that politicians, environmentalists and members of the timber industry are blaming one another for the forest fires burning in the West.
Fire Costs
June 19, 2002
NPR's Elizabeth Arnold reports on the difficult questions being raised about fighting and paying for wildfires. Right now, much of the burden is on federal agencies, but individuals may need to assume more responsibility for protecting their property from wildfire.
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