After the Aspen Acres Fire: The House is Still Here, So Is the Blog

 

Having driven out of the hills and onto the prairie, 
we stopped for a short break before going on to Pueblo.

Where did this blog go? No, I have not quit blogging, but I was a little distracted during the month of July. 

At around 6 a.m. on June 29, a tree (it is believed) was blown into a power line near the little resort community of San Isabel, on the Custer-Pueblo county line. (Local residents had already put out a couple of little fires previously in that general area.)

That spot is in the Rye Fire Protection District. Chief Gallegos and his volunteers got the call. It's uphill and twisty all the way—maybe 15-minutes plus in a car, but longer in a fire truck with a full tank of water.;

The weather had been hot, dry, and breezy. The fire was spreading in conifers and aspens. The Rye crew called for "mutual aid" from the nearest department  — the even-smaller Beulah fire department (about 20 volunteers) came to their aid. 

Beulah responded. The big guns of what would become the Aspen Acres Fire of 2026 (102,000 acres) were pointed right at their faces.

 

The Beulah Valley in winter.

"The Aspen Acres Fire experienced explosive growth due to record‑low fuel moisture levels and persistent red flag conditions during the week preceding and the days following ignition. The fire was driven by sustained winds over 40 mph, with gusts estimated up to 100 mph. It initially impacted the community of Beulah, Colorado, and later affected additional communities and areas across Custer, Pueblo, Fremont, and Huerfano counties."

Between the little town and the fire, a couple were car-camping off CO 78 (a.k.a. Twelve-Mile Road) on national forest land. The wife later commented on Facebook that had they not heard Beulah's sirens out on that road, they would have had no idea (at 6:30 a.m.) that the fire was burning and coming right at them.

A home on Pine Drive in Beulah. 
I do not know if it survived. (Redfin.)

Beulah is "nestled in the pines," as a real-estate agent would say. For more than a century it has been a community of summer homes and parks for those fleeing prairie heat, a retirement community, and a home to people who commute down to Pueblo for their jobs. The elementary school focuses on the natural sciences.  Every December there is a community Yule Log hunt which is actually fun to watch.

M. and I go there occasionally for a change of scene, and I would look at the comfortable, even fancy, homes under the tall ponderosa pines, and think, "This is lovely and gracious and oh gawd, if it ever burns. It's the textbook example of 'wildland-urban interface." (WUI, pronounced "whooie.")

The outnumbered fire fighters were trying to be in six places at once. My even smaller department had not been summoned, but help was streaming in from the city and county of Pueblo. I kept the radio on though, eavesdropping as they called for more water, ordered evacuations, and dashed from place to place. I heard someone say, "Down power lines. Venting propane tanks, Everything they taught you in WUI class — and more."

We thought we were safe, but the wind had other ideas,  By July 1, we were on "pre-evac" in the morning. "Maybe I should air up the tires on the pop-up trailer," I thought. By late afternoon, it was "GO!" 

 This was Evacuation Number 4? Or 5? But the others were always for a night or two or three. This one was for two weeks. For some people in Rye, it was three weeks.  

If you watch this Facebook video, it's Beulah firefighters discussing how they prepared for such a fire and what they did when it hit. Yes, some lost their own homes.

Since Facebook is not always fun, here are some local TV videos from the beginning of the fire:

 

 

After the fire, there was monsoonal flooding, of course. CO 78 re-opened only two days ago (Aug. 7). Some time I will go have a look, but I hate to be a disaster tourist, even though I am a "local" in the broader sense. Could go patronize the coffeehouse and/or the little restaurant; they survived.