Water officials in Beulah have sent a plea for federal help after the Aspen Acres fire devastated the southern Colorado community and damaged its water supply, putting its recovery in peril.
The fire, which began June 29, has burned over 102,000 acres in Custer and Pueblo counties. It destroyed hundreds of structures and forced more than 11,000 people from their homes. Then weeks later, storms over the burn scars prompted flash floods that killed one person and sent ashy sludge downstream into communities including Beulah.
Residents spent weeks without running water as utility workers battled floodwaters to try to clean and repair systems. Now, one district, the Pine Drive Water District, is calling for aid as its two-person staff tries to get the district back on its feet.
“I used to tell people that I lived in the prettiest place in Colorado,” Charissa Fryberger wrote in the district’s letter to President Donald Trump on Aug. 12. “Last month, my town became the epicenter of a fire that grew exponentially, traveled faster than anyone had imagined it could, and destroyed 102,000 of those beautiful acres.”
More than 300 homes burned to the ground, 70 of which were in the district. Residents spent three weeks in “evacuated exile,” Fryberger wrote. The district’s water system was designed to take water out of the North St. Charles River, which is fed by water running down the hills in four watersheds near the community.
Looking uphill from the town, she could see that the fire scorched hillsides in all directions, including all of those watersheds.
The water district treats the water, uses pumps to move it uphill to three sites with underground distribution tanks, then lets it flow down to residents’ houses. But the fire also blazed around the district’s treatment plant and over all three of its underground distribution tank sites.
When it destroyed homes, it left open taps, and by Day 2 of the fire, the district’s system was dry. The residents who still have homes haven’t had running water for more than a month.
Operators work hard to make sure water systems never lose pressure and always keep a required amount of water in them, the district said. Because of the loss of water and pressure, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment required the district to test, clean and inspect its tanks and pipes.
“We were actually halfway there, and actually we were starting to feel kind of hopeful that we would have water up within 10 days or so,” Fryberger said in late July. “And then we got our first real rain.”
The flames were so hot that they scorched the ground, leaving a hard crust that resists absorbing water. Each time it rains on any of the watersheds, the water races immediately down the hills, picking up ash, silt, debris and chemicals, she said in her August letter to the president.
“It roars through our valley as a raging torrent that resembles lava more than water, leaving a thick, black residue everywhere that it breaks the banks of the creeks,” she wrote. “We are told that this flooding will continue for the next 3-5 years.”
One challenge after another
The water district finally got its system up and running by Saturday. It initially didn’t have enough water to flush the system to finish cleaning it, so the district negotiated a deal to borrow 100,000 gallons of water from a nearby water utility, Beulah Water Works, that was less affected by the fire.
Even with running water back on, the staff isn’t sure how long they’ll be able to keep it flowing.
Pine Drive Water District can fix pipes and tanks, but it’s much more difficult to restore the miles of blackened watersheds. Floodwaters, thick with ash, continue to surge toward the treatment plant every time it rains. Volunteers have added temporary sandbags and cement barriers, but the district needs a more permanent flood diversion to prevent future inundations.
Even if they can repair the treatment plant to its pre-fire condition, it might not be enough to process the sludge coming down the creeks. The district is also looking at other expenses, like possibly adding a new system to remove toxins from the water, improving water meters, repairing pipes and adding storage.
And its two-person staff is about to go down to one person after a recent resignation. Fryberger is scrambling to find a replacement, she said Thursday.
The Pine Drive Water District can’t afford these fixes on its own. With over 70 homes burned, the district could lose up to 42% of its customer base if people decide to abandon destroyed homes. It won’t be able to spread additional costs to its remaining customers.
Water bills are already high, the district said. The base rate is $140 per month, plus $4 for every 100 gallons of water used over 2,000 gallons. There’s a risk that the district might not have enough money to continue operating, the district told Pueblo County commissioners.
“Most of the officials I talk to tell me that they have no money to help us unless you declare us a Federal Disaster Area,” Fryberger wrote in the letter to the president.
A presidential disaster declaration comes after damages from the fire are assessed and documented, according to the Colorado Governor’s Office. Many of those preliminary damage assessments are already underway, after starting in late July.
The Colorado Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management is determining whether a major disaster declaration request can be made to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The state’s request would need to prove that responding to the fire is beyond state and local capabilities and that federal help is necessary, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The state also has to show that it has taken action under its own laws and emergency plans.
If Polis sends a request, it would need further recommendations by different federal officials before landing on the president’s desk. At that point, Trump could decide whether to declare a major disaster on his own timeline. If he approves the request, it would open access to federal assistance programs that send money and other resources to states.
Trump has a record of withholding funding from Colorado to punish the state for actions that didn’t align with his priorities. Since Aug. 1, 2025, Colorado has requested two major disaster declarations from Trump, for the Elk and Lee fires and the flooding in southwestern Colorado, both of which Trump denied. Colorado appealed, and the Trump administration denied the appeals in April.
“The teams are currently reviewing the data to determine everything that can be included in a potential request for a Major Disaster Declaration and the next steps of the recovery process,” the governor’s spokesperson Eric Maruyama said. “We are committed to doing everything possible to support the Coloradans and communities impacted by the fires in our state.”