The Aspen Acres fire exploded to 73,377 acres on Friday afternoon with no containment, after jumping from 55,391 acres the night before and burning into Colorado City overnight. The blaze is now the eighth-largest wildfire in Colorado history.
That growth is why people across Pueblo County and Custer County are searching for answers today. More than 3,800 addresses were under mandatory evacuation Friday, residents of Colorado City were forced out in the middle of the night, and Custer County added more evacuation orders in Wetmore as crews tried to keep the fire from overtaking homes and infrastructure.
David Lucero said the fire moved in a way he had never seen in 26 years in law enforcement. He said there were two big runs around midnight and 4 a.m., and that residents did not get a pre-evacuation notice before the fire began pushing into town. He also warned that anyone in the area should have a plan ready if the call comes.
Officials said the fire was still about 12 miles from Pueblo city limits on Friday even as it burned within 200 yards of Bishop’s Castle. That gap matters because it shows how fast the fire can move without giving the surrounding area much warning, even when the flames are still short of the city itself.
County officials could not assess damage on Friday because of the conditions, so the number of homes or other structures lost was still unclear. What was clear was the pace of the fire: it burned across 28 square miles in less than a day, and firefighters were still focused on protecting property rather than stopping the blaze. The next hard answer will come when crews can safely get inside the burned area and measure what survived.
Other fires were also moving on Friday. The Ferris fire in the San Juan National Forest near Dolores had burned 33,428 acres since June 27 and lost containment, while the Gold Mountain fire in Ouray County was still unchecked and threatening an estimated 2,602 homes. The Willow fire near Leadville also remained uncontained, with mandatory evacuations in place around Turquoise Lake. By Friday evening, the Snyder fire in Utah and Mesa County was at 95% containment, and a public memorial for firefighters Emily Barker, Nick Hutcherson and Sydney Watson was set for Sunday in Grand Junction’s Las Colonias Park.
