Published: June 1, 2016

fire-fighting plane

Wildfires burned about 2 million acres in the United States in the early months of 2017. Here a slurry bomber drops retardant on the Sunshine Canyon fire west of downtown Â鶹¹ÙÍø on Sunday, March 19.

No one was injured and no buildings were destroyed. Firefighters fully contained the 74-acre fire by the next afternoon. But residents of more than 400 homes were forced to evacuate temporarily.

The wildfire likely began as a campfire, investigators said.

Indeed, humans start most U.S. wildfires — 84 percent of them from 1992 to 2012, according to recent research by CU Â鶹¹ÙÍø scientists. See page 7.

Photo by Paul Aiken/Daily Camera