Fires are more frequent, larger and more devastating than ever. In Colorado, firefighters are repeatedly putting their lives on the line responding to record-breaking wildfires. Human-caused climate changes are transforming the state's fire environment, bringing higher temperatures, drier fuels, and diseases to forests that create a volatile situation for firefighters and communities. "On a day-to-day basis, we're being surprised," says Don Whittemore, a career Colorado firefighter. "And in this business, surprise is what kills people."
The Story Group takes an inside look at what it's like to battle some of the biggest wildfires that firefighters have ever faced.
