The Aspen Acres fire surged to 74,265 acres on Friday afternoon and was burning about 200 yards from Bishop Castle, where crews were working to keep flames off the landmark and nearby property. The fire had been extremely active overnight Thursday into Friday, and officials said about 11,000 people had already been evacuated from Pueblo and Custer Counties.
That made Friday a critical day for the fire line. The blaze had grown to more than 60,000 acres by Friday morning, then was updated later in the day to 74,265 acres as high winds and low humidity kept it moving fast. Rich Smith said the fire was about 200 yards from Bishop Castle, a distance that puts the landmark in immediate reach of fire crews even as they tried to hold the line around homes and other property.
The weather helped drive the fire's explosive run. Jake Livingston said low humidity and high winds contributed to the fire's overnight activity, and those conditions were expected to continue for the next 24 to 48 hours, leaving little room for crews to ease up. Some moisture was forecast for Sunday, but that was still far enough away to offer only limited relief on Friday.
Damage was still being sorted out, and that is where the picture stayed incomplete. Smith said crews could not treat a map line as proof of destruction, noting that a home inside the fire perimeter was not automatically damaged, and he said exact numbers were not available. Assessments in the Beulah Valley were about 60% complete, with Volunteer Search and Rescue personnel expected to help once conditions improved.
The fire also kept pushing new evacuations and warnings across the area. A pre-evacuation notice was issued for Highway 67 south of Florence to the Custer County line, including Rockvale, Coal Creek, Newlin Ridge and Locke Mountain subdivisions, while the Custer County Sheriff's Office said power would be cut from Makenzie Junction East throughout Wetmore as soon as possible and told people in the Wetmore area to leave immediately. The next official update was planned for Friday evening, but the bigger question already facing residents was not how fast the fire had grown. It was whether crews could keep Bishop Castle and the nearby homes standing long enough for the weather to turn.
