Evaluation of elevation, slope, roughness, and vegetation type on the burn severity of the 2020 Calwood Fire in Boulder County, Colorado: Geomorphometry 2023

The Calwood Fire burned in Boulder County, Colorado from October 17 through November 14 2020. The vegetation types in the area greatly influenced the spread and severity of the fire. The conifer forests burned most severely and the fire died when it ran out of fuel in the grasslands. The elevation of the land had very little effect over initial burn severity but the areas of lower elevation recovered faster than the areas of higher elevation. The areas of high slope burned less severely but recovered slower than areas of low slope. The areas of high roughness burned less severely in the initial fire than the areas of low roughness but did very little to affect the regrowth in the area.