Hot temperatures, low relative humidities and strong gusty winds allowed the Hayman wildfire, located in the foothills southwest of Denver, to blossom into the largest wildfire in the state's history. Although the fire was initially started by a forest service employee, the ongoing drought conditions allowed it to spread rapidly out of control.
Every event with a place to put it; 3 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The episode as NWS BOU wrote it up.
Hot temperatures, low relative humidities and strong gusty winds allowed the Hayman wildfire, located in the foothills southwest of Denver, to blossom into the largest wildfire in the state's history. Although the fire was initially started by a forest service employee, the ongoing drought conditions allowed it to spread rapidly out of control. The wildfire consumed a total of 137,760 acres of forest land, approximately 95,000 acres was burned in Park, Jefferson and Douglas Counties. Approximately 1800 households had to be evacuated during the blaze. A total of 600 structures (including those in Teller County) were destroyed: 133 residences, 1 commercial building and 466 outbuildings. The cost of fighting the fire alone was nearly $40 million. The smoke plume caused air quality problems downwind of the fire. Smoke and ash restricted the visibility to a mile or less at times in the Denver and Castle Rock areas. The temperature in Denver equalled or exceeded 90 degrees for 13 consecutive days (06/21-07/03), tied for the fifth longest such streak on record. The record of 18 consecutive days was set during the summer of 1901.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Denver/Boulder, CO wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jun 9, 2:30 PM MST, 2 hours 30 minutes earlier.
NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER COLORADO
330 PM MDT SUN JUN 9 2002
FIRE WEATHER AND IMPACT OF SMOKE FROM THE LARGE FIRE SOUTHWEST OF
DENVER ARE THE MAIN ISSUES THIS AFTERNOON. WEAK SHORTWAVE PASSING
NORTH OF US TONIGHT WILL BRING A BRIEF SHIFT TO WLY WINDS ALOFT WITH
A BIT OF AN INCREASE DURING THE NIGHT...THEN TAPERING OFF BY
MORNING. SURFACE WINDS SHOULD BE NEAR THE USUAL DRAINAGE WINDS
TONIGHT WHICH SHOULD BRING A DENSE PLUME OF SMOKE DOWN THE PLATTE
VALLEY INTO DENVER. LOW CONFIDENCE ON HOW FAR NORTH IT WILL
SPREAD...BUT IT SHOULD BE AT LOWER CONCENTRATIONS NORTH OF DENVER.
AS FOR HOW BAD THE SMOKE GETS...THE FIRE SHOULD BE QUITE ACTIVE THIS
EVENING THEN LESS SO OVERNIGHT...BUT INSTEAD OF BEING DISPERSED IN A
10 THOUSAND FOOT DEEP LAYER IT MAY BE 2 THOUSAND FEET OR LESS. WE
HAVE ALREADY HAD VISIBILITIES BELOW A MILE...SO A COUPLE HUNDRED
YARDS MIGHT BE A REASONABLE GUESS. LATER TONIGHT THERE SHOULD BE A
SHALLOW SURGE OF N OR NELY WINDS THAT MAY BRING LESS SMOKY AIR BACK
INTO DENVER...BUT WINDS ALOFT SHOULD STILL BE CARRYING THE PLUME
TOWARD THE E TO NE.
AS FOR THE WEATHER FORECAST...NOT TOO MUCH TO CHANGE. COOLING ON
MONDAY WILL BE MAINLY AT LOW LEVELS AS THE UPPER TROUGH BASICALLY
MISSES US AS IT KICKS OUT. THERE WILL STILL BE VERY DRY W TO SW
FLOW ALOFT THROUGH THE PERIOD WITH A GRADUAL WARMUP BY THE END OF
THE WEEK. I WILL REMOVE THE THUNDERSTORMS FOR MON AS MODEL
SOUNDINGS SHOW A FIERCE INVERSION AROUND 500 MB. STILL A SLIM
CHANCE OF SOMETHING LATER IN THE WEEK IF PLAINS MOISTURE CAN GET
SUCKED UP TO THE FOOTHILLS. GIMMESTAD
.DEN...RED FLAG WARNING ALL FIRE WEATHER ZONES THROUGH MON EVENING.
SMOKE ADVISORY SOUTHERN FRONT RANGE FOOTHILLS/DENVER METRO
AREA AND DOUGLAS COUNTY...ZONES 36..39>41 TONIGHT.The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
3 drought. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Colorado in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Colorado, June 2002
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5305256, 5305257, 5305258.