{"id":4066,"date":"2026-08-24T10:04:22","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T10:04:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/?p=4066"},"modified":"2026-08-24T10:04:22","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T10:04:22","slug":"polis-requests-federal-disaster-declaration-for-colorado-wildfires-amid-growing-conflict-with-white-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/?p=4066","title":{"rendered":"Polis requests federal disaster declaration for Colorado wildfires amid growing conflict with White House"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Gov. Jared Polis is building Colorado\u2019s case for federal financial support to help rebuild after the Aspen Acres and Gold Mountain wildfires in anticipation of another fight with the White House over disaster assistance.<\/p>\n

Polis announced Sunday that he has submitted a formal request for a federal disaster declaration that would open Colorado to assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. However, approval is given at the president\u2019s discretion, and when Colorado asked for help in 2025, President Donald Trump denied it.<\/p>\n

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Polis submitted a 50-page letter outlining Colorado\u2019s case and how it complies with federal law that governs disaster assistance.<\/p>\n

In a news release, Polis said Colorado officials had assessed the damage \u201ccorrectly and by the book\u201d to support the communities that suffered from the wildfires.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese disasters clearly meet all the requirements for a major disaster declaration, and the flooding and debris flows that followed have caused further destruction and claimed a life,\u201d Polis said. \u201cColorado has committed significant resources to this response, but the scale of this disaster requires a strong partnership among federal, state and local governments for a successful recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n

Typically, presidential approval for a state\u2019s request for help following natural disasters is routine.<\/p>\n

President Joe Biden approved federal aid for the 2021 Marshall fire in Boulder County within hours of the state\u2019s request for help. President Barack Obama gave his blessing for the federal assistance within a few days of the catastrophic Front Range floods in 2013.<\/p>\n

But Trump denied Colorado\u2019s request for federal disaster assistance for the 2025 Elk and Lee fires in northwestern Colorado and for flooding on the Western Slope. The state appealed the first denial only to have that appeal turned down, too.<\/p>\n

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The denial was the first for Colorado in 35 years, and it caught state officials off guard.<\/p>\n

The previous denial came from President George H.W. Bush, who declined assistance after an F3 tornado on June 11, 1990, that caused an estimated $20 million in damages in Limon, according to FEMA data.<\/p>\n

Federal aid would help Pueblo, Custer and Ouray counties rebuild roads, water treatment plants, parks and other public services that were damaged or destroyed by the two wildfires. Rural electric cooperatives would qualify for assistance in rebuilding lost power lines and transmission stations, said Kevin Klein, director of the state\u2019s Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.<\/p>\n

Federal dollars would also be available to people whose houses were uninsured, bringing much needed help to residents who cannot afford to rebuild their mountain homes. It is unclear how many people who lost homes did not carry insurance, but The Denver Post talked to multiple people in Beulah who said they and their neighbors were denied insurance coverage because of the wildfire risk. Secondary homes would not be covered by federal disaster aid.<\/p>\n

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In Beulah, people not only lost homes in the Aspen Acres fire, but they also have suffered from flooding on the burn scar, which has sent mud, fallen trees and debris from burned houses into the valley,\u00a0 ruining people\u2019s floors, walls and furniture.<\/p>\n

The Aspen Acres fire ignited on June 29 in Custer County and then spread to Pueblo and Fremont counties, where it has to date burned more than 102,000 acres, ranking it the seventh largest wildfire in the state\u2019s recorded history. The fire is 74% contained and is burning in unpopulated areas of rugged terrain.<\/p>\n

The Aspen Acres fire destroyed 329 houses and another 62 were damaged, according to the governor\u2019s letter. The wildfire also destroyed hundreds of other buildings such as barns, garages and work sheds. Those outbuildings would not qualify property owners for federal disaster money.<\/p>\n

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Of those destroyed homes, 208 were in Beulah, and 85 homes burned in unincorporated Custer County, which accounts for 2% of the county\u2019s entire housing stock, the governor\u2019s letter stated.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese losses were inflicted on two rural counties with limited housing inventory, a high proportion of older residents on fixed incomes, and a documented pattern of underinsurance,\u201d Polis\u2019s letter stated.<\/p>\n

The San Isabel Electric Cooperative, which provides electricity to 24,000 people in seven southern Colorado counties, lost millions of dollars of equipment such as power lines, transformers and distribution infrastructure.<\/p>\n

The Gold Mountain fire started on June 28 in Ouray County and has burned 39,500 acres and is 87% contained. While that fire burned largely on public land, it destroyed five homes and damaged five others. But most f the destruction followed flooding from its burn scar.<\/p>\n

U.S. 550 between Ouray and Ridgway has been closed repeatedly as debris flowed off the burn scar and buried the roadway and clogged culverts. Mudslides on Red Mountain Pass closed the highway between Ouray and Silverton.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause U.S. 550 is the only route in this corridor, each closure isolates residents from medical care, employment, and emergency services,\u201d the governor\u2019s letter said. \u201cThe closures ruptured the region\u2019s tourism economy at the height of its high summer season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump is willing to withhold federal funding from Colorado in what many argue is political retaliation over the state\u2019s support for Democratic presidential candidates and its mail-in voting system.<\/p>\n

He has stripped hundreds of millions of dollars from Colorado, including grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Energy, which is led by Coloradan Chris Wright. The administration also wants to close the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder and to move other federal agencies out of state.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, The Post reported that the White House in late 2025 held a meeting with five agency leaders to discuss what they could do about Colorado as Trump berated Polis over former Mesa County clerk Tina Peters\u2019 imprisonment. Peters was found guilty in 2024 of four felonies and three misdemeanors in connection with her scheme to allow an unauthorized person access to the county\u2019s voting machines.<\/p>\n

An email about the December meeting was disclosed during a federal court hearing over a Colorado lawsuit alleging retaliation by the Trump administration. State officials argue that retaliation was motivated by the president\u2019s frustration with Peters\u2019 incarceration and by the state\u2019s mail-in balloting system.<\/p>\n

Even if Polis\u2019s disaster request is denied, the state will do all it can to help the communities recover, Klein said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is about the survivors and what we can do to help them and the communities rebuild,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s where our focus is and that\u2019s where our focus will remain.\u201d<\/p>\n

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