How Cameron Peak Fire Compares to 2012 High Park Fire

The Cameron Peak Fire has exceeded 16,000 acres burned to the west of Fort Collins, resulting in heavy smoke and visible ash within city limits. Here's how the wildfire compares to the High Park Fire in Northern Colorado in 2012. 

High Park Fire: 

• Caused by lightning, June 9, 2012, contained on July 1, 2012
• 87,000 acres
• Burned the foothills west of Fort Collins near Horsetooth Reservoir, Rist Canyon, Poudre Canyon, Whale Rock and Buckhorn Creek.
• 257 homes destroyed
• 1 fatality
• Third-largest wildfire in Colorado history (was second-largest fire until the Pine Gulch Fire near Grand Junction in 2020)

Cameron Peak Fire: 

• Cause unknown, started August 13, 2020, not contained
• Over 16,000 acres (as of August 20)
• 60 miles west of Fort Collins, 15 miles southwest of Red Feather Lakes, near Chambers Lake.
• No homes destroyed
• No reported injures or fatalities, according to the Coloradoan