Four Colorado wildfires burned across 41 more square miles on the Fourth of July as firefighting resources poured into the state, bringing a glimmer of optimism to the daily updates from fire chiefs.
The Aspen Acres, Gold Mountain, Ferris and Willow fires have consumed about 246 square miles in Pueblo, Custer, Lake and Ouray counties. The Ferris fire held at 9% containment, and the Willow fire gained 1% containment on Saturday.
Although fire crews faced hot and dry conditions, cloud cover over parts of the state slightly tempered fire behavior, officials said.
The Aspen Acres fire is Colorado’s largest active wildfire and now the eighth-largest in state history. Flames consumed an additional 21 square miles, or 13,605 acres, overnight Friday and into Saturday. It had charred 86,982 acres, or 136 square miles, as of Saturday afternoon with no containment.
The fire’s size is just behind the 2012 High Park fire, which burned 87,284 acres in Larimer County west of Fort Collins. That fire destroyed 259 homes and killed one person.
There are more than 2,200 firefighters and personnel responding to the four wildfires with more on the way, fire officials said Saturday.
“We’re getting almost double what we asked for,” Operations Section Chief Brad Washa said in a Saturday afternoon update on the Aspen Acres fire. Some of those resources are coming in from out of state, and some are being reassigned from other Colorado fires, he said.
The Aspen Acres fire likely has destroyed more than 200 homes, but county officials can’t access newly burned areas, including Colorado City and Lake Isabel.
Fire crews managed to save the popular tourist attraction Bishop Castle in Rye from being destroyed, fire spokesperson Al Nash said Saturday afternoon.
YMCA of Pueblo’s Camp Jackson in Rye – which closed in 2025 because of rising operating costs – had fire burning on multiple sides of the property but is still standing, Washa said.
Although there’s a chance of afternoon thunderstorms over the fire in coming days, those storms also may bring convection that can develop into gusty winds, said Makoto Moore, lead meteorologist at the National Weather Service Pueblo’s office.
Winds have calmed down over the Ferris fire near Dolores, but that presents its own challenges, Operations Section Chief Toby Cook said in a Saturday update.
“It’s stopped pushing the fire real hard with wind, but we have a lot less instability in the atmosphere. And that (fire) column is able to get a lot higher. And it sucks a lot of air in and creates more energy,” he said.
Ferris fire officials have ordered a complex incident management team to help with management and logistics, team leaders said in an update. The fire burned across an additional 8 square miles Friday night and into Saturday and has burned 41,336 acres, or 65 square miles, as of Saturday afternoon.
Fire crews saw “significant growth” as flames burned through the San Juan National Forest near Dolores, Cook said. The fire crossed over the Dolores River and burned up the canyon side along the western edge, while flames pushed north around the Glade Ranch subdivision and Benchmark Lookout, Cook said.
Firefighters are focused on stopping the fire from moving toward more homes and scouting containment lines to keep it in check, Cook said.
Thousands of Coloradans are still displaced by mandatory evacuations in all four fires, including the Gold Mountain fire, burning north of Ouray.
The Gold Mountain fire grew by 7 square miles on Friday and Saturday and has burned 25,919 acres or 41 square miles with no containment. U.S. 550 is closed between Ridgway and Ouray because of the fire, and detours are in place.
“Over the coming days, the fire has the potential to burn through the Owl Creek saddle and burn into Owl Creek Pass moving north toward Silver Jack Reservoir,” fire officials said Saturday. “Movement north may be slow if north winds develop.”
To the northeast, crews fighting the Willow fire near Leadville managed to secure 1% containment on the wildfire burning near Turquoise Lake.
The Willow fire has burned 3,090 acres, or 5 square miles, and “remains active in steep, rugged terrain west of Leadville, with fire behavior driven by critically dry fuels and afternoon winds,” officials said.
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