Colorado’s 50,187-acre fire tops U.S. firefighting priorities

By Robert Matteson
The Center Square

A 50,187-acre wildfire in Colorado has been declared the nation’s No. 1 firefighting priority.

Spanning Pueblo and Custer counties, the Aspen Acres Fire is expected to cost $15 million of taxpayer’s money to fight, according to an estimate from The National Interagency Fire Center.

But the final cost will be determined by a wide range of factors, including which resources are used to fight the fire.

“Colorado was moved to No. 1 as priorities for the entire Western United States, and the Aspen Acres fire was moved to the No. 1 priority [for the entire nation],” Mike Morgan, director of the Colorado Division of Fire Prevention & Control, said during a press briefing Thursday afternoon.

On Monday, Gov. Jared Polis announced a verbal disaster declaration in response to the Aspen Acres Fire. On Tuesday, Polis announced that Colorado had received a Federal Fire Management Assistance grant that covers 75% of the state’s eligible firefighting costs.

The Democratic governor also said the state has emergency resources at hand.

“We have state emergency funds for these kinds of things, and so we are always going to step in to protect life and property before we even know if we’re going to get paid back for some of it or won’t get paid back for some of it,” he said.

There are 14 large air tankers, six single engine air tankers deployed, 15 type-one helicopters deployed, five type-two helicopters operating, seven type-three helicopters, six air attack platforms, and two intelligence aircraft available in Colorado. On the Aspen Acres Fire, seven of the large air tankers, 326 personnel, two bulldozers, 128 engines and 14 water tenders have been deployed, Polis said.

The fire was discovered on Monday, has burned 50,187 acres and is 0% contained, according to the Incident Management team on Facebook. The fire is thought to be human-caused. Confirmation of the cause will come after the incident is under control, according to Polis.

Custer County Sheriff Rich Smith said that with the help of federal and local aid, 1,000 people will be committed to fighting the fire.

The combination of high winds and low humidity has made containment a challenge.

“I’ve been a firefighter in Colorado for 40 years, and I have never seen conditions like we’re seeing out there right now,” Morgan said.

Polis confirmed that over 160 structures have been destroyed and that it has likely grown close to 200.

“We’ve lost a lot of homes on this fire, we have a lot of other homes at risk,” Morgan said.

Evacuations for the towns of Beulah, Rye and San Isabel, among others, remain in place due to the fire.

Fire threats remain across the state, and new fires would require necessary resources to be taken away from the Aspen Acres Fire, according to Morgan.

“As resources are becoming more and more thin across Colorado, we’re going to start competing for resources, and that’s not a place we want to be. We are much more effective at catching unwanted fires when we have an abundance of resources, and that pool is drawing down rapidly,” Morgan told reporters Thursday.

Polis urged Coloradans to be smart over the holiday weekend.

“If you care about our state, if you care about our firefighters, do not use fireworks or other types of flames this Fourth of July weekend,” the governor said.

The Center Square reached out to the Colorado Division of Fire Prevention & Control. The agency requested questions by email, but did not reply with the answers by the time of publication.