Researchers say the forest where the Fourmile Canyon fire burned west of Boulder was ripe for fire. Intense wildfires are part of that forest’s history. Before the blaze, these scientists from CU-Boulder had wrapped up a study of the area. Fire and forest ecologist Tania Schoennagel was on the team. She says the forest and how dense it is, isn’t all that different from what it was like more than a hundred years ago before people built homes in the woods.
