DENVER — Wildfires that sparked across Colorado this year — whether by lightning or abandoned campfires — have together scorched more acres than the past four years combined, marking the worst wildfire season in the state since 2020.

While this year’s not-yet-complete fire season already dwarfs that of recent years, it’s come nowhere close to the destruction of the 2020 wildfires, said Camille Stevens-Rumann, an associate professor who studies wildfires at Colorado State University.

The dozens of large wildfires that sent up smoke across Colorado in 2020 consumed roughly 677,520 acres and destroyed more than 1,000 buildings, according to a National Interagency Fire Center annual report for the Rocky Mountain region.

Three 2020 fires — the Cameron Peak, East Troublesome and Pine Gulch fi

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