Colorado on Fire

"For its powerful, imaginative coverage of Colorado's raging forest fires" the Rocky Mountain News received the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography. Presented here in the order submitted are the 20 prize-winning photographs, providing some sense of the trauma Colorado endured during the long 2002 fire season. Higher resolution images are available. Contact the Western History/Genealogy Department for more information.

Colorado forest fires
photography
Pulitzer
Rocky Mountain News
Special Collections
Friends of Terry Barton react to the news that she had been charged with arson.
Brandi Stollak carries an American flag with Mike Stubbs.
A P3 Orion bomber drops a load of fire retardant on the Big Elk Fire near Estes Park, Colorado.
Smoke smudges the face of Dave Kahan during Colorado's Big Elk Fire in 2002.
The Coal Seam Fire burns along Interstate 70.
Residents say the pledge of allegiance at a community briefing.
Evacuees in San Miguel County listen to music while they help maintain a roadblock.
Flames from a new fire loom menacingly behind a mountain home near Durango
Eugene Brumley tries to get in a round of golf as the Hayman Fire rages.
Propane tanks and a car destroyed by Colorado's Coal Seam Fire in 2002.
500-foot flames balloon over Haflin Canyon on Missionary Ridge north of Durango.
A dead cow lies in the burned-out forest left by the Hayman Fire.
Margie Dleva gets son Spencer Delva into their van.
Residents of Lake George, CO react at a briefing to the news that the Hayman Fire was approaching their town.
Firefighter Daniel Crawford catches his breath after battling the Hayman Fire.
Smoke clouds dwarf a helicopter above the raging Missionary Ridge Fire near Durango.
A barn bursts into flames after it is caught in the Valley Fire.
A man jumps from his roof after watering it down during the Valley Fire.
A PB4Y-2 slurry bomber plunges to the ground in flames.
A helicopter flies over the burned remains of a forest near Cheesman Reservoir.