Aspen Acres fire surpasses 66,000 acres; dry conditions continue in Colorado

The Aspen Acres fire made an 8-mile run overnight and has grown to more than 66,000 acres as more than 350 firefighters are working the wildfire southwest of Pueblo, officials said Friday morning in an update.

“The fire exhibited extreme fire behavior overnight Thursday and into Friday morning, growing over 11,000 acres. Pushed by strong overnight winds, the fire made an eight-mile run to the south, a four-to-five-mile run to the north and grew one mile to the west,” officials said in a Friday morning report. 

The fire has burned 66,896 acres, up from the 50,187 acres reported Thursday afternoon, and is approximately 20 miles from Pueblo. “There is no threat to Pueblo at this time,” the Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office said early Friday morning.

The Aspen Acres fire is now the ninth largest wildfire in Colorado history, according to the Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control data. It is behind the Missionary Ridge fire, which burned 70,285 acres northeast of Durango in 2002. Colorado’s largest wildfire on record is the Cameron Peak fire, which burned 208,913 acres in 2020. The three largest wildfires in state history were in 2020 (East Troublesome at 193,812 acres and the Pine Gulch at 139,007).

Mandatory evacuations remained in effect Friday for communities near the Pueblo-Custer county border, including Beulah, Colorado City and Wetmore.

A section of Pueblo Reservoir is closed to boating so aircraft fighting the fire can pull water from the lake. Low visibility has been reported south of Pueblo on parts of Interstate 25 as smoke from the fire crosses the highway.

The forecast for Friday continues to be dry and hot with wind gusts near 35 mph, officials said. “Extreme fire is expected again on Friday with possible crown runs and group tree torching. Live trees, brush and shrubs are drought stressed and very dry,” according to the incident management team leading the fire response.

At least 180 structures had been destroyed as of Wednesday night. Officials believe that number will rise as the fire grows and teams can safely enter neighborhoods to conduct assessments.

Here is a roundup of the other major fires burning in Colorado:

Fire crews are making progress on containing the fire burning west of Grand Junction, and the Snyder fire is now 65% contained, officials said Friday morning. It has burned 30,194 acres since starting Saturday in Utah then pushing east into Colorado.

Burning 2 miles northeast of Ouray, the fire has grown to 21,788 acres and there are 539 people working to contain it, officials said Friday morning. 

There are more national forest closures, including southeast of Ridgway, east of U.S. 550 and the town of Ouray, south o fU.S. 50, and west of Lake City. The area extends across the Uncompahgre Wilderness toward the Little Cimarron drainage and Uncompahgre Peak, reaching north to the Big Blue Creek ridgeline before returning west along the Forest boundary toward Dexter Creek Road.

Initial containment on the fire was reported Thursday night at 10%. The fire, located in southwestern Colorado about 20 miles northwest of Dolores, has burned 27,382 acres and there are 365 people on the scene. 

Officials working the fire said Friday morning they are anticipating the arrival of two Super Scooper planes. They will be flying in and out of McPhee Reservoir picking up water to deliver to the northeastern side of the fire. The reservoir is not closed, officials said, “but recreationists are asked to remain alert for low-flying aircraft and stay clear of scoopers as they collect water to ensure the aircraft can operate safely.”

The aircraft approach the water at about 100 mph and can scoop up 1,600 gallons of water in just 12 seconds.

Helicopters began pulling water from the reservoir to dump on the fire last week, according to Ken Curtis, general manager of the Dolores Water Conservancy District.

Responders on Thursday also began loading firetrucks with water from the Dove Creek Canal that runs north toward Dove Creek to try to prevent blowing embers from jumping west across the river where more private property sits, Curtis said.

He expects “normal boating activities” in the reservoir along with people fishing and water skiing, even as water levels remain low.

“I imagine there will be people out on this hot July 4th, but between the low levels and stuff, we didn’t expect huge crowds from out of town,” Curtis said.

The conservancy district encourages firefighters to tap the reservoir any time they need it for wildfires, he said.

“We’re going to be pushing 90 today, and thankfully the winds hadn’t been quite as bad since last weekend or early this week,” Curtis said. “We always support and provide water as needed and hopefully they can get it managed until the rains hopefully come.”

As of Friday morning, the fire about 6 miles west of Leadville has burned 2,355 acres since starting Sunday afternoon. There are roughly 340 people working the fire. 

Crews spent Thursday working north of Turquoise Lake to protect structures in that area, as well as southeast and east of the general fire perimeter using hose lays, pumps and structure protection wrap, fire officials said in an update Friday morning. 

Firefighters will work Friday in the Twin Mounds area at the base of Mount Massive “to limit damage to nearby power lines as fire continues moving in a downslope direction toward Turquoise Lake,” the update said. “An initial attack contingency group is being established north of Turquoise Lake should the fire cross the lake.”

The Forest Service on Friday morning expanded its closure area and it now includes a larger portion of the Leadville Ranger District.

This is a developing story that will be updated.