Category: krdo-local-news

Scott Harrison

PUEBLO & CUSTER COUNTIES, Colo. (KRDO) — KRDO 13 has a crew in southern Pueblo County to provide an update on the Aspen Acres wildfire, which has burned nearly 87,000 acres.

For the first time, authorities report some containment — 6% late Saturday night, and up to 13% as of 7 a.m. Sunday.

→ Most up to date coverage on the Aspen Acres wildfire, including links to the latest evacuation maps

Fire crews made the first containment on the east side of the burn zone, near Highway 78.

The checkpoint on Highway 165 has been moved east from Crow Cutoff and is now at the Interstate 25 interchange.

Businesses on both sides of the interchange were closed — including two gas stations — as is the rest area.

Many drivers through the area are vacationers unaware of the fire and disappointed at being unable to turn east onto Highway 165.

Members of the Colorado National Guard are now manning the checkpoints at road closures to release state troopers and Pueblo County deputies for other duties.

Smoke is thick in the fire zone as of 8 a.m. Sunday.

KRDO 13 spoke with a Rye resident who evacuated on Tuesday and said that his home still stands.

More than 800 personnel from across the country are fighting the fire in Pueblo and Custer counties, while southern Fremont County remains on pre-evacuation status and a segment of the north end of Huerfano County, near Colorado City, remains on mandatory evacuation.

KRDO will continue to provide updates as they become available.

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Bradley Davis

FOUNTAIN, Colo. (KRDO) – The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office has lifted an evacuation for homes between both the North and South intersections of Jordan Road and Old Pueblo Road in Fountain.

Officials sent the evacuation notice over Peak Alerts. It is now safe to return to the area.

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Michael Logerwell

PUEBLO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) – For days, firefighters from all over the country have been working to protect people and structures put at risk by the Aspen Acres Fire.

“There’s not really a way to explain very simply how humbling extreme wildfire behavior can be,” Nicholai Allen, a wildlands firefighter, told KRDO13 over a Zoom Video Call on Friday.

→ Find the most up to date information on the Aspen Acres wildfire here

Allen would be the one to know. He has firsthand experience as a wildland firefighter. Allen was part of a squad designated to protect homes in the Palisades fire that burned up parts of California in 2025.

He says it’s a cumulation of factors that make fighting an extreme wildfire like the Aspen Acres Fire challenging.

“It’s not just the direct fire front. It’s the low visibility, the toxic smoke in the air, ” Allen said. “I would say that it is the most uncomfortable, always on super high adrenaline, job that I’ve ever done.” Even without the fire, Allen points out that hiking through a rugged mountainous region in high wind conditions with all the fire gear would be challenging.

Added on top of that is the long hours. Fires don’t take breaks, and Allen says it’s not uncommon for wildland firefighters to work shifts of 24 hours or longer.

“I’d usually eat, like, only one time a day, maybe some snacks here and there, as it’s allowed. But very often when you get into it and if you’re doing structure triage and trying to, help people evacuate and save homes, you’re not really thinking about eating at all, or sleeping,” Allen said.

Surprisingly, Allen says he hasn’t found it too difficult to sleep because the work of a wildland firefighter is so exhausting. Every wildland fire is different, but Allen says typically a trailer is brought in to a safe zone further away from the front line where firefighters can sleep in their off-shift.

When not fighting fires, Allen says he works to educate homeowners on how to keep their homes fire safe. He encourages mitigation work around the home and warns that it’s not always the big wall fire that will ignite your property. It can be small embers that float into your home.

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Heather Skold

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — The song, “America the Beautiful,” is woven into the fabric of our very patriotism in the United States: its imagery, its faith, its call for oneness. 

Written in 1893 by the poet and English professor Katharine Lee Bates, it expresses gratitude while also being aspirational. 

Katharine Lee Bates, Courtesy of Regional History & Genealogy, Pikes Peak Library District, 102-354

Bates was born shortly before the Civil War started, and thus, many of her writings focused on social reform.  

A professor at Wellesley College in Massachusetts, Bates decided to venture west to teach for the summer at Colorado College.

“This was a business trip, where she spent several weeks in Colorado Springs,” said Matt Mayberry, Director of the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum, outside which Bates’ iron statue sits, facing Pikes Peak. “She thinks as a poet, and she processes her reality as a poet. Her travels west inspired her and became part of the poem.”

Bates had never been west of Philadelphia at that point in her life, but her travels by train created inspiration: patriotism on display at the World’s Fair in Chicago, the prairies of Kansas, and the “sublimity of the Rockies.”

“It was with this quickened and deepened sense of America that we went on, my New England eyes delighting in the wind-waved gold of the vast wheat fields,” she wrote, in an article published in a 1928 edition of the Gazette and Telegraph. 

Colorado Springs Gazette and Telegraph, Dec. 30, 1928

She and her colleagues were shown Manitou Springs, Cascade, and Garden of the Gods — “all so marvelous that our stock of exclamations ran out.”

One day, she and her teacher friends ventured up Pikes Peak, via “prairie schooner,” pulled by horses that were traded out with mules halfway. 

Once at the top, they were advised against jumping out of the wagon, but instead “descend leisurely” due to the altitude, a warning that befell their guide, who himself fainted at the summit and curtailed their visit to 30 minutes. 

The brief view at 14,115 feet was enough to bring a sense of awe to Bates, who wrote of its “purple mountain majesties above the fruited plain.”

That night, upon returning to the Antlers Hotel, Bates wrote the first lines of her poem.  She made several revisions to her poem before its final version as we know it today.  

Antlers Hotel, Courtesy of Regional History & Genealogy, Pikes Peak Library District, 102-354

“It is not stuck in time, and can be meaningful to us today,” said Mayberry. 

Her words were set to the hymn, Materna, which was composed Samuel Ward.

Here is a 1923 recording of “America the Beautiful.”  Public Domain.

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Bradley Davis

FREMONT COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) — On a Friday in June above Fremont County, the bluebird skies stretch for as far as the eye can see. Except for one, small splash of color.

“Oh, I see him!” Barbara King said while looking up at a parachuting figure.

At this distance, it’s impossible to see who.

“That’s Harry!” Baraba said.

Well, she knows who she’s looking for.

“It’s his first time being 90 years old,” King said.

It’s her husband’s birthday. Harry King has waited 90 years for this 40 seconds of free fall, but he’s not the one in the group checking an item off his bucket.

“I told Pastor John, and I said, ‘You won’t believe the adrenaline rush on this,'” King said. “He said, ‘I’d like to do that.’ That was his mistake.”

His pastor is also one of his best friends, and Pastor John was more than a little nervous to join Harry in the air for the first time.

“That’s what happens when you pastor a church full of heroes,” Pastor John said.

“I jumped as many times as I could when I was in the Army,” Harry said.

Jumping in Fremont County is easy when you’ve already jumped behind enemy lines.

“I did 107 jumps in the Army, and two of them were combat jumps. I didn’t count on them, but that happened when I was in Vietnam, so,” Harry said.

On his 90th birthday, Harry finds himself surrounded. But only by friends.

“I can’t believe so many showed up,” Harry said.

That’s how the small blip in an endless sky can become the center of the world. The center of Barbara’s world.

“You did it, sweetie!”

The two embrace for a long moment after Harry’s smooth landing.

“Oh, I love you,” Harry said.

I love you, too.”

The skies might carry his spirit, but the ground holds his heart.

“I love you, darling,” Harry said again.

It’s another safe landing for Harry. He’s just missing one thing.

“Well, thank you, Dee. I feel naked without my cap!” Harry said as his friend returned his Vietnam Veteran hat to him.

It’s another small gesture that made Harry’s smile brighter than any bluebird sky.

“I’m glad I did it, babe,” Barbara said to Harry.

“I’m glad I did it too.”

Harry is not done yet. He said he hopes to plan another skydiving trip for his 95th birthday.

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Bradley Davis

RYE COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) – As the Aspen Acres fire approaches the 10th largest in Colorado State history, KRDO13’s Bradley Davis breaks down how it matches up with the largest and most destructive fires in Colorado’s tumultuous past.

As of Thursday afternoon, the Aspen Acres fire has burned 50,186 acres. That puts it as the 11th largest Colorado wildfire in state history, five days in with 0% containment.

→ Follow more coverage and recent updates on the Aspen Acres fire

Governor Jared Polis said Thursday he believes over 150 structures have been lost, about a third of which are homes. Nearly 500 homes were lost in the 2013 Black Forest fire, and over 1000 homes fell in the 2021 Marshall Fire in Boulder County.

In his visualization, Davis uses fire maps to give us a sense of scale and contextualizes how the fire compares to a wide array of past tragedies

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Scott Harrison

PUEBLO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) — A Red Cross supervisor said that “fewer than ten” new evacuees have arrived since the overnight announcement of a new evacuation zone on the fifth day of the “Aspen Acres” fire in Custer County.

LATEST FIRE STATS & EVAC ORDERS: https://krdo.com/news/2026/07/06/aspen-acres-wildfire-updates-evacuations/

“And we expect that more are coming,” the supervisor said just before 5 a.m. on Friday.

The new evacuees come from the east side of the fire zone, between Interstate 25 and the Colorado City area, which had been on pre-evacuation status.

The Pueblo County shelter is set up at the county’s recreation center, just south of the Pueblo city limits.

Earlier this week, the shelter’s director said that roughly half of the 40 beds assembled were in use, but he also said that the shelter has enough beds, food and other resources to handle more evacuees. The supervisor on Friday morning confirmed that is still the case.

The Red Cross also provides an animal shelter where evacuees can keep their pets.

At least one woman — possibly among the new evacuees — was sleeping in her car on Friday morning.

Some evacuees are staying elsewhere but come to the shelter for the three daily meals offered there.

KRDO13 spoke with one of the new evacuees, Boyd Townsend, who said that he was staying at a hotel while his house was being repaired after a kitchen fire earlier this year.

“I tried to put that fire out, and now it looks like the home may burn down anyway,” he said. “At the Days Inn, we knocked on doors to make sure everyone got out. It was full, and many of the people were fire evacuees. The manager there was really nice. Some of the people didn’t have to pay anything, because they just didn’t have it.”

Raechel Thompson evacuated from Beulah to the shelter several days ago with her son and brother.

“It made us feel special,” she said. “It made us feel that Pueblo cares about Beulah, Rye, Wetmore, and so many other places. It’s a good feeling. It makes me really love Pueblo. I didn’t love it as much before.”

One evacuee said that the flames came to within 75 feet of her home; another evacuee said that she lost her home, had to give up her pet, and is now looking for a new house in Pueblo.

Evacuees who thought the worst of the fire was over, will go into the holiday weekend fearing how much worse things can get.

Authorities have set up a checkpoint at the intersection of Highway 165 and Crow Cutoff.

Near the I-25 interchange, a liquor store had closed, leaving a note on the door for customers; a convenience store next door, however, remained open.

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Bradley Davis

FLORENCE, Colo. (KRDO) – As the smoke started to settle around their house in the unincorporated community of Wetmore, Ron Fridz thought he had more time.

“Looking at the smoke in the sky, I was thinking we have plenty of time. Three hours, four hours,” Ron said.

→ All updates, links to latest evacuation orders and continuous coverage on the Aspen Acres wildfire

Instead of hours, one small shift in the weather pattern afforded Ron and his family mere minutes to leave home.

 “The wind changed all of the sudden, and the smoke started coming over us, and that’s when we got the mandatory evacuation,” Ron said.

“If you’re walking around outside, you can feel the smoke in your lungs, and the smoke is just everywhere, and you can see the flames,” Ron’s wife, Elizabeth Fridz, said.

A sheriff knocked on their door to break the evacuation news. Fortunately, they had already packed up for a Fourth of July camping trip that had already been canceled by a different wildfire raging in another part of the state.

As of Thursday afternoon, the flames had yet to engulf Wetmore, but they’re just a few short miles away, and anxiety is high.

“I’d just thank all the firefighters for all their hard work and hope they save the town of Wetmore,” Elizabeth said.

Thursday afternoon, all roads leading into Wetmore were closed to all except residents, who are being cautioned to turn around.

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Scott Harrison

FREMONT COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) — Highway 96 through Wetmore in Custer County is closed as part of the latest evacuation from the “Aspen Acres” fire, but on Thursday, many drivers were either unaware of it or were hoping to be allowed through.

→ Find the most up to date information on the Aspen Acres fire here

A checkpoint is in place at the junction of Highways 67 and 96, manned by county deputies and state troopers.

Overnight and until late morning, deputies manned a second checkpoint on Highway 67, 11 miles north of Wetmore, just south of Florence in Fremont County, at the County Road 15 intersection.

The Wetmore checkpoint is around five miles west of the roadblock established on 96 at the Pueblo County line; the closure ends at Silver Cliff, just outside the county seat of Westcliffe.

Residents of both counties began expressing concern on Wednesday as they watched wildfire smoke approaching, and even saw ashes falling.

Authorities said that winds shifted overnight, causing the fire to briefly spread southeast and southwest, but expected winds to change again after sunrise and continue the fire’s northward advance.

Many drivers were trying to reach Westcliffe, and were told by authorities that they’d have to detour to westbound US 50 and take Highway 69 to Westcliffe — a trip that could take at least 90 minutes.

“We were trying to go back up to get our trucks and our chipper, so we can go to work in Florence, but they’re not letting us through,” Robin Boyd, a local contractor, explained. “We’re waiting on a phone call from our supervisor.”

Some drivers came from longer distances, disappointed at having to detour.

“I’m going back to Arvada,” said Tirion Tompkins, another contractor. “It’s just too long of a detour. I knew the fire was close by, but I didn’t think that Highway 96 might be closed.”

Tyler Shull, of Woodland Park, spent a long time pulled over and trying to rearrange his schedule.

“I’m going to have to coordinate with a realtor, and also some clients, on how to get to where I was going, and when the deadline for an inspection is,” he said.

Drivers had mixed feelings — frustrated by the road closures but understanding the need for them.

“I’ve lived out here for around 35 years,” Boyd said. “I’ve seen a few. They’ve evacuated me before, on other fires. This one seems to be the worst one I’ve ever seen, to be honest.”

There’s no timetable yet on when road closures because of the fire will end; stay tuned to the KRDO networks for updates.

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Scott Harrison

PUEBLO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) — Authorities announced new evacuations and pre-evacuations for neighbors in the path of the Aspen Acres Fire, now in its third day of straddling the Pueblo/Custer County lines.

LATEST FIRE STATS & EVAC ORDERS: https://krdo.com/news/2026/07/06/aspen-acres-wildfire-updates-evacuations/

Residents of the Red Creek Ranches area in Pueblo County were ordered to leave immediately.

At around the same time, officials placed the Wetmore community of Custer County in a pre-evacuation status — meaning residents should be ready to flee at a moment’s notice.

Some of the evacuees could add to the total already staying at the Pueblo County Recreation Center, where a Red Cross evacuation shelter is operating.

Dave Duran, the shelter’s director, said that approximately 20 evacuees are currently staying there as of noon Wednesday, with some only eating there while staying elsewhere.

Duran responded to a Facebook post from the Aspen Acres Campground, which reads that authorities told the staff it’ll take several weeks to reach full containment on the fire.

“We’re dealing with people who have been evacuated — which is some people from those areas, and right around there,” he said. “And if the people who have been evacuated need a place to stay, we’re gonna figure that out. We can easily provide more beds, and at the moment we have all the staff, food, and volunteers we need.”

The shelter offers three meals daily and provides a nearby animal shelter where evacuees can keep and visit their pets.

One of the shelter visitors is John Clay, 74, who evacuated from his home in Beulah.

“This is the fourth time I’ve evacuated because of a wildfire,” he said. “As far as I know, my house is still there. We have quite a network in Beulah. It’s always reliable, so you cross-reference. I think it could go from 50 to 75 houses destroyed.”

Clay said that he’s concerned about the fire destroying the homes of people who work remotely or rent their homes as Airbnbs.

For a list of other shelters and help resources, visit: https://krdo.com/news/top-stories/2026/06/29/aspen-acre-fire-evacuations/.

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