Explosive growth continues for Aspen Acres Fire in southern Colorado, becomes 8th largest in state history

The Aspen Acres Fire continued to grow at an explosive rate on Friday. Estimates place it as the eighth largest wildfire in Colorado's history, according to the Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control.

Warm temperatures, strong winds, and low humidity are creating dangerous conditions across much of Colorado, complicating firefighting efforts.

The Aspen Acres Fire continued to grow quickly throughout Thursday night into Friday, and has burned approximately 74,265 acres as of 3:30 p.m. This new estimate would place the Aspen Acres Fire as the eighth largest wildfire in state history, just before the 2002 Missionary Fire, which burned 70,285 acres, according to the Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control. (This does not include the West Fork Complex, which consisted of multiple fires that burned in close proximity.)

According to the CDFPC, the 20 largest wildfires in state history have occurred in the last 24 years (since 2002).

In a press conference on Friday, officials said firefighters are continuing to battle against difficult conditions, but more help is on the way.

"We've had a very active fire over the last 24 hours, particularly last night between midnight and 4 a.m.," said Incident Commander Jake Livingston.

"Last night, they were focused in the North Creek area, Silom Road, Colorado City, the Table Mountain area, and their primary focus was point protection. Today, their primary focus continues to be point protection; however, they do have several bulldozers out there that are working portions of the southeast perimeter, looking for options to get around that edge. Engines and crews are working in the North Creek drainage, Silom Road, working that eastern edge of the perimeter and, of course, on the southern end around the communities of Rye and Colorado City," Livingston said.

He added that aircraft continue to assist in fire suppression efforts, and that an increasing number of crew members are available to help.

Custer County Sheriff Rich Smith said, "Every single resource that can be put on this fire has been put on this fire or is en route. I talked with one of the incident management members, and they have 90 extra fire engines coming from as far away as California, Utah, and Grand Junction. They've actually pulled fire trucks off of those fires to come help us."

Officials say members of the National Guard will also arrive in the area on Friday to assist law enforcement with control points.

Evacuations have expanded as winds continue to change which areas are threatened by the fire. Pueblo County Sheriff David Lucero says a new interactive map is now available, allowing residents to enter their address to check whether they're included in evacuation or pre-evacuation areas. It also outlines the fire perimeter and will be updated as conditions change.

Lucero added that just because an address is inside an evacuation area does not necessarily mean that building was affected. He says they formed a dedicated team on Friday to manage the increased number of calls. They're prioritizing contacting people whose properties have been damaged or destroyed in the fire.

"Due to the overwhelming number of addresses that have been evacuated, more than 3,800 thus far, we are asking for patience regarding the notification process," Lucero said. "We know many of you are anxious to hear about your home and your property damage. We want to give you that information quickly, but accurately."

Smith says approximately 11,000 people have been evacuated so far, and encouraged all evacuees to go to the Disaster Assistance Center at the Pueblo Academy of Arts.

He says dangerous conditions pose a serious threat to first responders conducting damage assessments.

"Going forward, we believe next Tuesday or Wednesday, when the incident command believes it's safe, we've actually employed our all volunteer search and rescue team in Custer County, which is a very well known team, and they're going to be helping us do the access to do these damage assessments, he explained.

He added that the fire has reached approximately 200 yards from Bishop Castle, a popular roadside attraction outside of Rye.

Smith made a plea to the public not to use fire while celebrating this weekend:

"Going forward, I would like to beg every one of the people who are watching this, please do not use fireworks this weekend. Don't start bonfires, and don't even cook out s'mores, and I know that's a very popular tradition for many people, but it's just completely unsafe to do that at this time."