{"id":2217,"date":"2026-07-02T12:05:29","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T12:05:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/?p=2217"},"modified":"2026-07-02T12:05:29","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T12:05:29","slug":"southern-colorado-communities-reel-as-residents-flee-fast-growing-aspen-acres-fire-the-whole-sky-was-black","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/?p=2217","title":{"rendered":"Southern Colorado communities reel as residents flee fast-growing Aspen Acres fire: \u2018The whole sky was black\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Flames danced in Patrick Van Meter\u2019s rearview mirror Monday as he sped away from southern Colorado\u2019s devastating Aspen Acres fire with his wife and two dogs in tow.<\/p>\n

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\u201cUsually, Colorado has beautiful blue skies,\u201d Van Meter, 59, said two days later. \u201cThe whole sky was black. You couldn\u2019t see nothing. It looked like it was nighttime at 3 in the afternoon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Van Meter was in Pueblo, about 30 miles away from his house in the Cedar Grove neighborhood, when his wife Nadine called with the news that they needed to evacuate due to a rapidly approaching wildfire. Van Meter raced home with just enough time to toss three outfits, crucial medicine and the couple\u2019s dogs, Princess and Lucky, into the car. State troopers were banging on their door by that point, urging them to flee, Van Meter said.<\/p>\n

Not long after, the Van Meters\u2019 house \u2014 once the historic Cedar Grove Cheese Factory built in 1918, he said \u2014 burned to the ground.<\/p>\n

His son\u2019s ashes, his motorcycles, his wife\u2019s wedding ring \u2014 all gone.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was devastating, and we felt helpless,\u201d Van Meter said. \u201cWe lost everything we owned except what we took. It was a pretty horrific event, but by the glory of God, we are safe and we got the animals out. God closes one door, and he opens another.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Aspen Acres fire burning in Pueblo and Custer counties nearly doubled in size to 47,953 acres \u2014 roughly 75 square miles \u2014 on Wednesday, becoming the state\u2019s largest wildfire and the No. 1 firefighting priority in the nation, according to emergency managers.<\/p>\n

The fast-moving wildfire, fueled by strong winds and single-digit humidity, destroyed more than 180 structures in the two counties, injured a firefighter and forced new evacuations Wednesday, according to the Pueblo County Sheriff\u2019s Office. There is zero containment.<\/p>\n

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Entire communities \u2014 Beulah, Rye, San Isabel and, on Wednesday, the town of Wetmore \u2014 have been ordered to evacuate. The Aspen Acres fire was burning 2 miles away from the popular tourist destination Bishop Castle, officials said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know this is devastating,\u201d Pueblo County Sheriff David Lucero said during a briefing Wednesday. \u201cIt\u2019s devastating news for our residents\u2026 and our hearts are with every family, individual who has experienced loss. Please know we are doing everything possible to protect lives, property and communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Phil Daniels, deputy chief of the\u00a0Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control and incident commander for the Aspen Acres fire, said firefighting resources are stretched in Colorado with so many other wildfires burning. But crews are traveling from Alaska, Tennessee and other parts of the country to fight the flames in Pueblo and Custer counties.<\/p>\n

He said he expects 750 to 1,000 firefighters on the blaze in the next few days.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThis is the No. 1 fire in the nation,\u201d Daniels said. \u201cEvery resource that we can get that we need will be brought to bear.\u201d<\/p>\n

Command of the firefighting efforts was scheduled to transfer to the Alaska Complex Incident Management Team 1 at 6 a.m. Thursday.<\/p>\n

The 30,193-acre Snyder fire in Mesa County, which killed three firefighters over the weekend, was Colorado\u2019s only major wildfire with any official containment Wednesday, with the Rocky Mountain Complex Incident Management Team in charge reporting that 49% of the fire\u2019s perimeter was contained.<\/p>\n

Other major fires still burning in the state included the Gold Mountain fire north of Ouray, the Ferris fire in the San Juan National Forest near Dolores, and the Willow fire near Leadville.<\/p>\n

\u2018We can rebuild. We can replace.\u2019<\/h4>\n

Marilyn Mondragon Wren was ready.<\/p>\n

Living in the forests of Beulah and having been evacuated for wildfires multiple times before, Mondragon Wren had the foresight to pack boxes with her most important items \u2014 documents, jewelry \u2014 in case another fire forced her to make a hasty exit.<\/p>\n

But on Monday, she and her husband were in Colorado Springs for a doctor\u2019s appointment. The couple wasn\u2019t home as they watched local news announce rolling evacuations that crept closer to the three homes they own in the area.<\/p>\n

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There was nothing they could do as two burned down.<\/p>\n

\u201cI teach English, and I don\u2019t believe a word has been created that would adequately describe what it feels like to go through that,\u201d Mondragon Wren said in an interview Wednesday. \u201cTo see it reduced to that kind of rubble was really something. A two-story house that looks like five leftover pieces of tin is crazy. We know we are very blessed. It could have been so much worse. We know God is really good to us and let us enjoy those homes as long as we did.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are really lucky for that and the outpouring of support and offers of kindness is amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mondragon Wren believes one of their homes, a small guest house, is still standing and prays it makes it through the natural disaster so that the couple has somewhere to go once they can return.<\/p>\n

The artist said she lost all of her paintings, a record collection dating back to the 1960s featuring original albums by The Beatles and Elvis Presley, and precious jewelry.<\/p>\n

However, she has been grateful for the support of her loved ones, who started a GoFundMe crowdfunding campaign to raise money for her and have provided for her during a time of need.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve lived through car accidents, motorcycle wrecks, cancer and now a fire, and I consider myself beyond blessed,\u201d Mondragon Wren said. \u201cWe can rebuild. We can replace. I have breath in my body.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018It will be all right\u2019<\/h4>\n

Cedar Grove, about 30 miles southwest of Pueblo, is a woodsy, rural stretch along Colorado 78 near the Beulah Valley. There are just four residents of Cedar Grove, Van Meter said, and everyone escaped the fire.\u00a0Even his rooster and chicken managed to survive the blaze, a neighbor told him.<\/p>\n

On Monday, as Van Meter drove away from the house he had just repainted, the wildfire raged about a mile behind him, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was insane,\u201d Van Meter said. \u201cWe had 15 minutes, maybe, to get out. You just think about everything \u2014 all your pictures, all your memories. My wife tells me we\u2019ll have more memories and that it will be all right.\u201d<\/p>\n

Van Meter and his wife, who have also set up a GoFundMe page, are staying in a local hotel for the time being and have been offered a place to stay while they look for somewhere new to rent.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody here is like a family,\u201d Van Meter said of his community. \u201cYou go to the Beulah General Store, and everybody knows you by name. The mailman puts the mail into your hand and says to have a nice day to your face. I want to thank everybody for their prayers and their help. There are still good people out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

All evacuations remain in place, officials stressed Wednesday, and it may take days to gauge the full scope of the fire\u2019s destruction or let anyone return home.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs for the town of Beulah itself, it has been impacted,\u201d said Daniels, the incident commander. \u201cAnd when you go in there, it\u2019s going to look different for a lot of people. But that\u2019s where our focus is, and in a few days we\u2019ll know what it\u2019s going to look like.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wednesday night, incident commanders updated the map of the Aspen Acres fire to show its enlarged 47,953-acre footprint \u2014 with Beulah well inside the wildfire\u2019s burn zone.<\/p>\n

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Denver Post staff writer Lauren Penington contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n