The Aspen Acres fire grew another 2,000 acres as firefighters battled more windy conditions Tuesday afternoon while protecting the communities of Wetmore and Greenwood on the northern side of the fire.
Strong southeast winds pushed the fire toward bulldozer lines crews had finished the day before, fire officials said in a Wednesday update. Firefighters, supported by engines, bulldozers and aircraft, strengthened fire lines along the fire’s edge to keep flames from spreading beyond containment lines.
The fire began to calm down later in the day when winds shifted and light ran began to fall.
The Aspen Acres fire, the largest fire currently burning in Colorado, is burning 96,031 acres and is 16% contained, as of Wednesday morning.
More than 1,670 personnel are assigned to the fire.
Officials said Wednesday the fire has burned at least 275 homes in Pueblo and Custer counties. At least 192 in Pueblo County, mostly in the Beulah area, have been marked as destroyed, Pueblo County Sheriff Dave Lucero said, adding that county officials are only 67% of their way through damage assessments.
“This is an unprecedented event for our community, one unlike anything we have experienced in more than a century since the devastating flood of 1921,” Lucero said during a press conference Wednesday.
In Custer County, at least 83 homes were destroyed by the fire — 2% of the county’s residences, Sheriff Rich Smith said.
Bryan Ware, chief of the Beulah Fire Protection and Ambulance District announced in a letter posted on Facebook that 193 primary residences in Beulah alone had burned.
The district completed its damage assessments through the community Tuesday. Crews are working 16-hour shifts to remove hazardous trees with damaged roots and weakened trunks that could fall without warning, before residents are allowed to reenter the area, Ware said.
“Beulah has endured wildfires and evacuations before, but nothing on this scale. Recovery will look different this time, and it will take patience from all of us,” he wrote. “I have no doubt we will rebuild. We will support one another. We will remain the close-knit community that has always defined Beulah.”
The Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office is contacting property owners who lost homes to scheduled escorted visits to allow families to see their property, begin processing their loss and recover any belongings that might still be salvageable. In the meantime, Ware urged people not to return to homes that are still under evacuation orders.
“Everyone at Beulah Fire wants our community home. We miss you. We love you. This valley is our home too,” Ware said.
As the potential for rain moves through the burn scar, fire officials are warning residents of flash flooding. Custer County is under a flash flood watch starting Thursday afternoon through the evening.
After a wildfire burns through vegetation and exposes bare soil, the landscape becomes highly susceptible to erosion during heavy rainfall.
“Two feet of flowing mud can move a full-size truck, so it’s really something you have to watch out for,” Jake Livingston, incident commander with Alaska Complex Incident Incident Management Team No. 1
The National Interagency Fire Center map shows wildfires burning in Colorado.
Ferris fire
More mandatory evacuations were issued Tuesday night as the Ferris fire burning near Dolores continued to show extreme fire behavior and moved through the Dolores River Canyon.
The fire was estimated at 57,356 acres — up more than 6,000 acres from Tuesday — and 19% contained, officials said Wednesday morning.
Large air tankers helped build containment along the fire’s northern edge south of Forest Road 504 and a pair of Super Scooper planes dumped water north of the Benchmark Lookout, drawing water from the McPhee Reservoir on Tuesday.
The fire moved north past the Dolores Canyon Overlook and south through the finger canyon near County Road P.
Several ranchers left their cattle grazing on the Glade in San Juan National Forest, where the fire is burning. That’s because firefighters were able to get ahead of the flames and contain them behind a reinforced fire line that’s currently protecting several thousand acres, according to Lorena Williams, public information officer for the San Juan National Forest.
The Glade supports more cattle than any other area in the forest, along with around 23,000 elk and more than 7,000 deer.
“There is a lot of livelihood that is out here that is threatened and one of our primary objectives is to take good care of it,” said Tom Clemo, incident commander for California Interagency Management Team 7 in a video update. The team assumed command of the fire Tuesday morning.
Gold Mountain fire
Crews made progress containing the Gold Mountain fire burning near Ouray as higher humidity levels, cloud cover and light showers helped limit the fire’s spread. Officials reported 8% containment Wednesday morning, up from 2% the day prior.
Nearly 980 firefighters and personnel are assigned to the fire that has scorched 31,420 acres.
Parts of the fire continue to burn, but firefighters reported minimal growth, according to Rocky Mountain Area Complex Incident Management Team 3 who reported isolated torching of trees and heavier fuels inside the fire’s perimeter.
Infrared mapping shows there is very little remaining heat along the Highway 550 corridor, where officials said growth is unlikely.
Rainfall totals across the fire ranged from about 0.05 to 0.10 inch, which was not sufficient to provide a wetting rain, fire officials wrote in a Wednesday morning update. Thunderstorms brought gusty, erratic winds up to 20 mph, but they did not create any control issues.
More isolated showers and thunderstorms are possible Wednesday, mainly over higher ridges, with a slight change of lightning and another low change of wetting rain, officials said.
Fire crews will continue to work to keep the fire north of Ouray, east of Colorado 550 and the community of Ridgway and south of Silver Jack Reservoir. Because of a strengthened containment line, some mandatory evacuation orders for people living north of Ouray were dropped to voluntary status.
Willow fire
The Willow fire burning near Leadville is burning about 4,333 acres and is 10% contained, fire officials reported Tuesday.
Steep and inaccessible terrain in the Mount Massive Wilderness is posing a challenge to firefighters trying to extinguish parts of the fire’s perimeter. In these areas, crews are creating fire lines at a safe and accessible distance from the perimeter.
This is a developing story that will be updated.