Thousands of Coloradans have been displaced by wildfires burning across the state, with the Aspen Acres fire in Pueblo County roaring across 28 square miles in less than a day, making it the eighth-largest wildfire in Colorado history.
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The Aspen Acres fire, which is Colorado’s largest active wildfire, grew from 55,391 acres, or 87 square miles, on Thursday night to 73,377 acres, or 115 square miles, on Friday afternoon. It’s burning with no containment and is now twice the size of Fort Collins.
Under normal conditions, wildfires tend to calm down at night thanks to cooler temperatures and higher humidity, Alaska Complex Incident Management Team spokesperson Al Nash said.
“We really didn’t see that until close to dawn today,” Nash said Friday morning.
The fire made two big runs around midnight and 4 a.m. and burned into the community of Colorado City, near Interstate 25 south of Pueblo, forcing residents to evacuate in the middle of the night. County officials were not able to assess the damage on Friday because of the fire conditions, Pueblo County Sheriff David Lucero said at an afternoon briefing.
The fire is burning within 200 yards of Bishop’s Castle, a popular tourist attraction, Custer County Sheriff Rich Smith said. More than 3,800 addresses are still under mandatory evacuation in both counties.
Custer County also ordered more mandatory evacuations in Wetmore on Friday afternoon, describing the fire as “unpredictable and constantly changing.”
The fire is still about 12 miles away from Pueblo city limits, Lucero said.
“They are not on a pre-evacuation notice, but we have seen some things I’ve never seen in 26 years in law enforcement with the behavior of this fire,” Lucero said. “You should have a plan, and you should be prepared if that call does come.”
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Firefighters are still focused on protecting homes and infrastructure from the fire, Incident Commander Jake Livingston said.
Wildfires near Ouray, Dolores and Leadville also grew Friday.
The Ferris fire in the San Juan National Forest near Dolores grew by more than 6,000 acres, or 9 square miles, and has consumed 33,428 acres, or 52 square miles, since it started burning June 27. Containment dropped slightly Friday, from 10% to 9%, as the fire pushed toward the Benchmark Lookout, fire officials said.
To the north in Ouray County, the Gold Mountain fire grew by 6 square miles Friday and has burned 21,789 acres, or 34 square miles with no containment. Mandatory evacuations and forest closures are still active around the wildfire, which is threatening an estimated 2,602 homes, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.
To the east, the Willow fire near Leadville grew by about 200 acres and had consumed 2,541 acres, or 4 square miles, with no containment as of Friday evening. Mandatory evacuations are still active around the fire, including in the Turquoise Lake area, and Lake County officials ordered more evacuations south of the fire late Friday.
Near the Utah state line, fire crews gained 95% containment on the Snyder fire burning in Mesa County by Friday evening, up from 65% containment on Thursday night, fire officials confirmed. The fire did not grow overnight and has burned 30,191 acres, or 47 square miles, in Utah and Mesa County.
Firefighters Emily Barker, Nick Hutcherson and Sydney Watson were killed while fighting the fire last week, and a public memorial service is set for 11 a.m. Sunday at the amphitheater in Grand Junction’s Las Colonias Park, 925 Struthers Ave. The service will be livestreamed online at youtube.com/@usdaForestService.
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