A wildfire burning southwest of Denver has forced the evacuation of thousands of residents and destroyed more than 160 structures by Friday. Erratic winds pushed the blaze across two Colorado counties.
The Aspen Acres fire is one of about 40 large, uncontained blazes burning primarily across the western U.S., fueled by months of dry weather and a record lack of snow this past winter in some areas.
Fire personnel are scooping water from the Pueblo Reservoir to fight the Aspen Acres fire, which expanded overnight by 17 square miles (44 square kilometers). By Friday, it had grown to nearly 105 square miles (272 square kilometers) with zero containment.
All of Colorado City, an unincorporated community of about 2,200, was ordered evacuated, along with the towns of Beulah, Rye, and San Isabel, according to the Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office.
About 50 National Guard soldiers were being sent in on Friday to help with staffing checkpoints on roads in Custer and Pueblo counties.
Guard members would also help State Park Rangers as they bring on additional boats to keep boaters clear of water-scooping operations.
Fire crews on the western side of the Rocky Mountains had contained about 65% of the Snyder Fire on the Colorado/Utah border, where three members of a Helitack team were killed and two others injured last weekend when they were overcome by flames.
The Cottonwood fire in southwestern Utah had grown to more than 147 square miles (380 square kilometers) by Friday while the Babylon fire in the southeast corner of the state was up to 133 square miles (344 square kilometers).
This week, more than 9,000 personnel have been deployed nationwide to battle over 50 major wildfires, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.
The scale of the danger was underscored last weekend when three firefighters were killed in a wildfire on the Colorado–Utah border.
Evacuation orders are currently in place across Arizona, Washington, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah.
