Author: KRDO

Michael Logerwell

PUEBLO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) – When Red Creek Fire Chief Lu Toxvard and his wife, Tammy, also a Red Creek Firefighter, first heard about the Aspen Acres Fire, it didn’t have a name.

“At that time, you know, you think it’s like a regular fire, and you’re going to be able to get it out before it does too much damage,” Tammy Toxvard said.

But that’s not what happened.

“It went out of control. It really did very quickly,” She said.

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Before the first week was over, Chief Toxvard was going door to door telling his neighbors they needed to leave.

“I told her [a neighbor] that I really think you should go, and she goes, ‘Do you really think so?’ and I say, yeah, you need to get out of here. Let me do this work. I’ll save your home. I guarantee I’m gonna do everything I can to save your home,” Chief Toxvard said.

He did save her home, and plenty more, even though he couldn’t save his own. The Toxvard’s home burned down, along with a neighboring home.

Only two homes in their immediate neighborhood fell to the fire. They attribute the 90% success rate to the rigorous fire mitigation their whole neighborhood partakes in every year.

“It’s not ideal when, of course, you want to save everybody, everybody’s homes, and make sure they’re safe. but we we were able to keep the fire from getting everybody else,” Tammy Toxvard said.

Despite the destruction, the Toxvards say they aren’t going anywhere. This fire won’t drive them off.

“The house we can replace, and we will. We will rebuild,” Tammy said.

“It’s the community that we love. It’s, you know, we love and live there,” Lu said, finishing his wife’s sentence.

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Bradley Davis

BEULAH, Colo. (KRDO) – The “Aspen Acres” fire has demanded the nation’s attention. 12 days in, over 1,900 firefighters work as one to hold the line.

12 days ago, a major burden of the blaze fell on the shoulders of a few dozen volunteer firefighters.

KRDO13’s Bradley Davis traveled to Beulah, behind the containment lines, to show the stark images of a town on the brink and the somber words of a fire crew too stubborn to let their town burn.

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Bradley Davis

PUEBLO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) – Fire crews will not fight the “Aspen Acres” fire in the Greenhorn Wilderness, according to officials.

Operation Section Chief Brad Washa said the Greenhorn Wilderness is too rugged for firefighting crews to safely dig fire lines. There are little to no roads in the area and the terrain is extremely steep. This comes after Washa said two firefighters were injured trying to dig fire lines in rugged terrain on the southwest side of the fire.

Washa said people with homes in the Greenhorn wilderness should “fireproof” their homes by clearing everything combustible within five feet of the house, like wood piles. From there, clear dry vegetation out as far as 100 feet from the home. If possible, he recommends putting gravel down around the property.

Washa said the Alaska Complex Incident Management Team (ACIMT), who is overseeing operations of the “Aspen Acres” fire, is considering allowing the fire to burn down the mountain on the west side and attacking it on flatter ground west of Highway 69.

He said it would take over three weeks to establish fire lines on the fire’s current western edge over rough terrain, and the fire might outpace them. He said it is also much more dangerous for the firefighters.

Washa said it would be a much easier fight on flat ground with less fuel. If ACIMT employs this strategy, the fire would grow significantly in acreage. However, the western front is sparsely populated, and it wouldn’t put many homes at risk.

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Bradley Davis

PUEBLO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) – The Operations Section Chief of the Aspen Acres Fire said Thursday that two firefighters were injured near Camp Jackson in the southwest region of the blaze.

Operations Section Chief Brad Washa said at Thursday’s community meeting that one firefighter “blew out his knee” while another suffered from a dehydration incident. He said the two were working to create dozer lines in rugged mountain terrain.

Washa said it’s been hard to establish dozer lines on the West side of the fire because of its challenging topography. He said they will not be putting fire crews in the Greenhorn wilderness south of the fire. He said they are exploring strategies to let the fire burn West until it’s out of the mountains and has reached flat ground West of Highway 69. In that case, the fire would grow substantially in acreage, but mostly through rugged wilderness without putting many structures at risk.

Washa said people with homes in the Greenhorn wilderness should “fireproof” their homes by clearing everything combustible within five feet of the house, like wood piles. From there, clear dry vegetation out as far as 100 feet from the home. If possible, he recommends putting gravel down around the property.

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Mackenzie Stafford

PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO) — Evacuees are nearing two weeks without their homes due to the “Aspen Acres” fire. Many have been at the evacuation center on Cooper Place since the fire broke out on June 29, 2026. In the time since, donations have poured in.

Kind neighbors and thoughtful community members have brought food, waters, blankets and all sorts of necessities, but for some evacuees they say some donations that aren’t physical, tangible are really what’s creciendoed morale. 

Outside the evacuation center you’ll hear the hum of generators, the occasional bird chirping and the chatter among evacuees and red cross volunteers; but a new sound has helped to lift morale for evacuees.

A group of musicians from Pueblo County came to the evacuation center to perform live music. The group came out because one of their own band members was evacuated from his own home.

“One of the gentlemen who was staying here had been evacuated from his home,” explained Myra Filler.

That band member was back home Thursday, but many still didn’t have that luxury. So the Grass Seed Jug Band came again to perform a few tunes.

“I can’t fight fires. I can’t build a new house. But I can sing a song,” shared Filler, “Sometimes we’re just having fun. but sometimes we’re having fun in a meaningful way. In a way that’s making a difference to someone else.”

Another member of the band said that in this time when many people want to help, but don’t know how, bringing music to the families who are without a home is the least they could do.

The band brought smiles to people’s faces as they sang and danced. One man who spoke with KRDO13 said he didn’t have the words to express how much a little live music meant to him. He said it even brought tears to his eyes. 

“We’re going to come out on Mondays. Just be here. Yeah, well the situation speaks for itself. I mean, we’re just really, we’re really glad to be able to come out here every time,” said Band Leader Elliott Ring.

Now the grass seed jug band will come back every Monday morning and put on a show for evacuees at 10.

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Scott Harrison

CAÑON CITY, Colo. (KRDO) — Disasters like the “Aspen Acres” fire are nothing new to Gulf Coast natives Marcus and Kelli Summerford.

“We evacuated because of Hurricane Ivan in 2004 and Hurricane Katrina in 2005,” Marcus said. “We came to Colorado during COVID, and we love it.”

→ KRDO13’s full coverage on the Aspen Acres wildfire here

Marcus, who worked under some of the best chefs in New Orleans, decided to open a Cajun restaurant two years ago, and Homer’s Gumbo Pot is in business on Elm Avenue.

Marcus and Kelli’s experience as evacuees motivated them to provide free meals to fire evacuees and firefighters.

“I’ve been down to a backpack of clothes twice in my life, because of disasters,” he said.

20 to 30 evacuees have visited the restaurant per day so far to enjoy those meals.

“Going through [Hurricane] Katrina, one thing that really stuck with me after the storm was that even when we were back in our houses, there was no hot food,” he recalled. “There was no cold food. Everything was just room temperature and mediocre. And every time there’s a disaster, I do what all Southerners do — try to feed their neighbors something decent and hearty.”

To reach more evacuees, the Summerfords teamed up with the owner of a food truck called The Buffalo Stop, who distributes the meals at evacuation shelters and other locations of need.

“We heard people needed food, we heard people weren’t getting as much food as they needed, there were still hungry bellies at the end of the day,” said owner P.K. Graves. “Instead of jumping through all of the hoops, we just decided, let’s just take our own kitchen down there.”

Graves and the Summerfords are planning to organize a fund-raising event at the end of this month to benefit evacuees.

For the free meals, they said that they’re paying for them out of pocket, or with donations.

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Scott Harrison

PUEBLO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) —   On Day 11 of the Aspen Acres Fire, the Beulah area on the east side of the burn presents an interesting contrast.

It’s where most of the containment — which fell from 15% to 14 % overnight — is, but also where dozens of homes have been lost.

→ Follow KRDO’s full coverage of the “Aspen Acres” wildfire here 

The fire’s eastern border remains one of the most active fire areas, with Beulah and Siloam Road mentioned regularly in daily fire updates.

It’s where some of the now more than 1,800 personnel responding to the fire have been working.

On Wednesday night, authorities said that the burn zone received something it hasn’t had since the fire began — significant rainfall from storms.

Enough rain, in fact, that some areas had flash flood warnings.

No problems reported, but as many of us know, flash flooding on bare, fire-burned ground can be an issue.

The fire’s 15% overall containment has held steady for a few days now.

Firefighters are still doing a lot of structure protection, using bulldozers to dig containment lines.

Beulah is no stranger to wildfires; the 2016 Beulah Hill Fire destroyed eight homes and 16 outbuildings and is believed to have started from sparks produced by a road excavator.

Authorities determined that lightning caused the 2005 Mason Gulch Fire, but no homes were lost because of previous extensive fire mitigation in the area.

Authorities also report that a new fire, south of the Aspen Acres burn zone, in Huerfano County, started yesterday morning but is now fully contained.

It was called the Pole Canyon Fire and was approximately two acres in size.

Authorities made water to help contain the fire.

   

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Alexander Brunet

Editor’s note: Colorado Parks and Wildlife recently announced that the fire had been extinguished. Colorado Springs and the Fire Department have since clarified that the fire is not out, but is 30% contained.

EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) – The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office (EPSO) has lifted a pre-evacuation warning as of 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 8. The order included a one-and-a-half-mile radius of Rock Creek Canyon Road due to a fire one-third of a mile north of 1350 Rock Creek Canyon Road.

Officials confirm that the fire was 80% contained as of 1:20 p.m. on July 10. According to EPSO, crews will remain on scene to prevent reignition throughout the contained area.

The EPSO and the Colorado Springs Fire Department (CSFD) say that, despite requests against doing so, someone flew a drone over the fire site as of 10:50 a.m. Wednesday morning. Officials asked whoever was flying the drone to land it immediately, as it hindered air operations.

The EPSO told everyone in the area to be prepared to leave and to evacuate if they felt they were in danger.

EPSO estimates the fire is approximately 1.5 acres as of 10 a.m. July 8.

A KRDO 13 crew was at the intersection of Pawnee and Comanche Avenues, where flames and smoke could occasionally be seen on a ridge overlooking a mobile home park and approximately 25 homes near the Pike National Forest.

Authorities with the U.S. Forest Service and Southwestern Highway 115 Fire spent the night monitoring the fire’s activity.

“It’s (was) just too dark for anyone to fly back there, or get a crew back there,” said Clark Gaddie, a spokesman for SW Hwy 115 Fire. “I (was) sitting here all night, watching it to make sure it (didn’t) go anywhere. In the morning, we (got) some crews out here, and some helicopters. The terrain is steep and rugged back there. We’re worried about how the wind may affect the fire.”

He said that lightning likely sparked the fire, though authorities had yet to announce the official cause by noon Wednesday.

“I saw the lightning strike in that exact area,” said neighbor Brody Nimmons.” We were watching it. That was the scary part — it shook the whole house.”

In the meadow at Pawnee & Comanche, fire crews set up their staging area and used part of it as a place for helicopters to take off and land.

The first helicopter began mapping the fire around 9 a.m and two helicopters performed drops with water from nearby reservoirs before stopping around 12:30 p.m.

Neighbors were in good spirits, given the situation — with many pulling out lawn chairs to sit and watch the activity.

There was more anxiety overnight, however, as the fire slowly burned above them.

“We had meetings at 2:30 this morning,” said Judy Schewitzer. “This neighbor, that neighbor, that neighbor. What were we talking about? The fire and what we needed to do.”

Her next-door neighbor echoed that sentiment.

With the fires in the past, and this, kind of concerned,” said Cara Vandiver. “I have service dogs, so their stuff is in the freezer, waiting for the last minute to pack the food up.”

Authorities thanked their partners for being able to provide resources for the fire despite the much larger Aspen Acres Fire burning in Pueblo and Custer Counties for the second week.

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Rob Namnoum

“Tarps off shirts off. Yeah, I love it,” says Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer. Yeah in the upper deck of Coors Field it’s tarps off, shirts off, “It’s funny because when I’m in the outfield, I can see it starting, like in the fifth inning. You see like four or five kids with their shirts off,” says Rockies outfielder Jake McCarthy. As the game goes on the section of shirtless fans swells, “There’s been a few times where it’s like, maybe the, the upper deck is a little more empty. So I could literally see people migrating over to like, what is it that there’s a right center to the right to a corner? So it’s funny and it’s been funny to see it like, I think it’s good for the sport, the fans are into it.” says McCarthy.

Fans are into it. The first time the shirts came off was during the Rockies sixth home game of the season in April, “The first time I saw it was a home game was against the Astros. The day game. It’s pretty cool, I think. I think we’re doing pretty well here,” says McCarthy The kids do it well and the Rockies say well done, “Anything to help us win. I love that we have fans that are enthusiastic and want to do that I love it,” says Schaeffer.

Jake McCarthy says he would need a little liquid courage to part of the tarps off shirts off movement. “Probably need a few drinks, but, yeah, I think it looks, like fun.” The Rockies skipper adds, “Come out. Take your shirt off.”

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Scott Harrison

PUEBLO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) — A weeklong ordeal has ended for dozens of people forced to evacuate during the “Aspen Acres” fire, now in its ninth day.

Evacuees in parts of Colorado City, along Highway 165 and east of Interstate 25, began returning home Monday night and Tuesday morning.

→ Check KRDO’s full coverage of the “Aspen Acres” wildfire here 

A checkpoint manned by the Colorado National Guard and Pueblo County deputies at the intersection of Highway 165 and Cologne Way verified whether incoming drivers had proof of residency before being allowed in.

Among those turned around was a driver who refused to give his name and said that he lives in nearby Rye, which remains under a mandatory evacuation.

“Still not on their list,” he said. “I hope they update it because where I live, most of us immediately to the west are out of fire danger.”

A block west of the checkpoint is Applewood Drive, where neighbors evacuated for the second time in two weeks after a previous fire damaged or destroyed 11 homes there.

“We evacuated last Tuesday night and came back yesterday afternoon,” said David Hill, who lives in Applewood Estates. “We stayed in motels and Airbnbs. Me, my wife, and my mother-in-law.”

Another resident, Kameron Jordan, is thankful to still have the home he’s lived in for 17 years.

“I have a family of four,” he said. “My mom, dad, and sister. We stayed in our van at the Circle K. I’m glad that I had my family. We freaked out. We thought we were going to lose our home.”

As we celebrate the evacuees who are coming home, our thoughts and prayers continue for evacuees who still can’t return, or even have homes destroyed in the fire.

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