AAA: Your Vehicle Could Spark Wildfires - Here's How to Stay Safe This Fire Season

DENVER (June 18, 2026) — As Colorado enters the most dangerous stretch of wildfire season, AAA is reminding drivers that more than 90% of Colorado fires are caused by people, and that the vehicles in their driveways can be an overlooked source of that risk. 

The Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control estimates that only about 7% of wildfires are caused by lightning. Nearly all others can be traced to human activity from unattended campfires and discarded cigarettes to a spark from a car or trailer. With the majority of Colorado’s 64 counties now under fire restrictions, and red-flag warnings becoming increasingly common, conditions are primed for wildfires.

"On a red-flag day, dry grass doesn't need a campfire or a downed power line to ignite. All it takes is a single spark, which can come from a vehicle," said Skyler McKinley, regional director of public affairs for AAA - The Auto Club Group. “The most common ways drivers can start a fire are also the easiest to prevent. Secure your chains, check your tires, and never ash your cigarettes outside your vehicle.”

How Vehicles can Start Wildfires

Vehicle-related fires occur often enough that the National Interagency Fire Center treats them as their own distinct ignition category. Common causes include:

• Dragging chains and metal parts: Loose trailer chains, mufflers, or cargo can scrape pavement and throw sparks for miles.
• Driving on a flat or an exposed rim: Driving on a flat tire runs the risk of extreme friction heat, shredding the tire and igniting the rubber. An exposed metal rim grinding against asphalt can easily spark.
• Hot exhaust and catalytic converters: The underside of a running vehicle can get hot enough to ignite dry grass on contact when drivers pull off into tall, dead vegetation to park or turn around.
• Worn brakes and mechanical failures: Brakes worn to the metal, faulty wiring, and other neglected maintenance can all produce sparks or heat.
• Cigarette butts and ashes: Improperly discarded smoking materials are a leading cause of wildfires nationwide.

What drivers can do to prevent wildfires

AAA urges every Colorado driver to treat their vehicle as a potential ignition source and take simple steps to reduce risk:

• Secure your tow chains: Always cross trailer safety chains under the hitch to form an X. Use the right length and make sure they cannot drag. Check the chains at every stop.
• Look underneath: Before a trip, confirm nothing is hanging or dragging, such as exhaust components, heat shields, straps, or chains.
• Secure your load: A shovel, a length of chain, or any piece of equipment that shifts on a trailer or bounces off a truck bed can drag on or strike the pavement and throw sparks, on top of being a road hazard. Tie everything down, recheck anything metal before you pull out, and check your load at every stop.
• Keep tires properly inflated and never drive on a rim: Check tire pressure before traveling, ideally while cool, and inflate them to the pressure number listed on the door jamb or in the owner's manual.
• Don't park or drive over dry grass: The heat from your undercarriage and catalytic converter is enough to ignite it. Use pullouts and bare ground.
• Keep up with maintenance: Properly maintained brakes, wiring, and a properly functioning exhaust system can help prevent fires while also improving vehicle reliability. Find a AAA Approved Auto Repair facility at AAA.com/AutoRepair.
• Dispose of cigarette butts and ash properly: Never throw any part of a lit or extinguished cigarette from a car window. Use your vehicle's ashtray or an airtight container.
• Carry a fire extinguisher: A small Class A, B, or C extinguisher, along with water and a shovel, may help stop a roadside spot fire before it spreads.
• On red-flag days, postpone what you can: If you can delay towing, hauling, or roadside equipment until conditions ease, do it.

What to do if you see a wildfire

Early reporting can make a critical difference in stopping a wildfire before it spreads.

• Call 911 immediately:  Provide the most precise location possible, such as a mile marker, cross street, or highway exit, plus the direction the smoke and flames are moving.
• Don't try to fight a spreading wildfire: If a small fire has just started and it is safe to act, an extinguisher may help. If there is any doubt, call 911, get to safety and let the professionals respond.
• Don't drive into heavy, dark smoke: Visibility can drop to nothing without warning.
• Slow down and increase your following distance in smokey conditions: Turn your headlights on, keep windows up, and set the climate system to recirculate to keep smoke out of the cabin.
• Keep the shoulder clear: In a fire-related backup, the shoulder is how engines and crews reach the fire. Hold your lane.
• Follow evacuation orders. Colorado fire agencies promote the "Ready, Set, Go!" approach: Be ready with a plan and a packed vehicle, get set when a red-flag warning or nearby fire raises the threat, and go the instant an order is issued. Sign up for your county's emergency alerts and check CoTrip.org for closures before you travel.

“After a historically dry winter and with wildfire danger increasing across much of the state, Coloradans should take a few extra minutes to prepare their vehicles before hitting the road," McKinley said. "Simple steps like checking your tires, securing trailer chains and staying off dry grass can help protect the places we love to visit and the communities that call them home.”