Colorado: Governor Polis Announces Fire Management Assistance Grant Authorization for Aspen Acres Fire Burning in Custer and Pueblo Counties, Provides Update on Wildfires

DENVER — Today, Governor Polis announced that Colorado has been authorized for a Fire Management Assistance Grant (FMAG) for the Aspen Acres Fire burning in Custer and Pueblo Counties. The fire was first reported the morning of Monday, June 29, and has since grown rapidly to over 28,000 acres. The Governor declared it an emergency yesterday morning, just hours after the blaze started, due to its immediate rapid growth.

"Our brave men and women on the front lines are going above and beyond to ensure that everyone impacted by the Aspen Acres Fire is evacuating safely and quickly. The fire grew very quickly on Monday, and unfortunately wind conditions forced our aerial assets to stay grounded initially. The simple reality is that the conditions of the fire over the first 24 hours - including wind gusts up to 100 miles per hour - made it impossible to deploy firefighting crews and air attack. I am pleased that we've had strong aerial support on the Aspen Acres fire today including Large Air Tankers and multiple fixed wing and helicopter aviation resources that resumed once conditions allowed for it. We are doing everything we can to protect our first responders while protecting homes and property in Beulah, Rye, San Isabel and nearby communities. Any loss of homes or structures is devastating, and we are glad that our  aerial resources were able to be launched this morning to drop suppressants," said Governor Jared Polis.

Since the fire began, the U.S. Forest Service and the State have deployed 22 engines and handcrews, an incident management team and 180 personnel. In addition, the emerging fire was identified yesterday morning as the top priority in the Rocky Mountain Region and multiple fixed and rotor wing aviation resources were assigned until wind and turbulence prohibited safe aircraft use. A National Complex Incident Management Team was ordered to manage the fire and will be arriving later today. These teams manage large wildfires, providing command and coordination.

As of today, air tankers have delivered dozens of drops of fire suppressant to the fires.

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Evacuation Centers are set up in Pueblo County Recreation Center 1650 Cooper Place and at Wetmore Community Center, as well as an evacuation center for large animals at the Colorado State Fairgrounds, entrance 7. Currently, the Aspen Acres Fire forced over 5,000 evacuations.

Pueblo and Custer Counties are under Stage 2 fire restrictions, prohibiting the sale and use of any fireworks. Governor Polis is urging all Coloradans to follow local fire restrictions and help prevent any human-caused fires.

The authorization makes FEMA funding available to pay 75 percent of the state's eligible firefighting costs under an approved grant for managing, mitigating and controlling designated fires. These grants do not provide assistance to individual home or business owners and do not cover other infrastructure damage caused by the fire.

Currently, the State is engaged in seven major fires. The State is working collaboratively with local and federal partners to gain additional resources to support efforts on all major fires. As of today, the State has deployed a total of 39 aerial resources on these fires.

To date, Governor Polis has issued verbal disaster declarations for the Snyder Mesa Fire in Mesa County, Gold Mountain Fire in Ouray County, Aspen Acres Fire in Custer and Pueblo County, and the Willow Fire in Lake County.

Snyder Fire has grown to over 29,000 acres, with 0% containment. The Governor's verbal disaster declaration activated the State Emergency Operations Plan and directed the Department of Public Safety and its Divisions of Homeland Security and Emergency Management (DHSEM) and Fire Prevention and Control (DFPC) to take responsibility for all response, recovery, and mitigation efforts on the Snyder Mesa Fire. This support includes State and interagency engines and handcrews, DFPC and interagency aviation resources, and incident management personnel and overhead to assist in management of the fire and containment efforts. In addition, DFPC is supporting Mesa County and the incident with administrative and financial oversight and intelligence products that include imaging, mapping, and fire behavior modeling and projects. DHSEM is directly supporting the Mesa County Emergency Manager and the emergency operations center with on-site area field managers.

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The Gold Mountain Fire in Ouray County has burned 8,366 acres, with 0% containment. The Governor's verbal declaration activated the State Emergency Operations Plan and directed the Department of Public Safety and its Divisions of Homeland Security and Emergency Management (DHSEM) and Fire Prevention and Control (DFPC) to take responsibility for all response, recovery, and mitigation efforts on the Gold Mountain Fire. This support includes State and interagency engines and handcrews, DFPC and interagency aviation resources, and incident management personnel and overhead to assist in management of the fire and containment efforts. In addition, DFPC is supporting Ouray County and the incident with administrative and financial oversight and intelligence products that include imaging, mapping, and fire behavior modeling and projects. DHSEM is directly supporting the Ouray County Emergency Manager and the emergency operations center with on-site area field managers.

The Willow Fire in Lake County has burned 1,261 acres, with 0% containment. The Governor's verbal declaration for the Willow Fire in Lake County also directs the Department of Public Safety and DHSEM and DFPC to take all necessary and appropriate actions to assist with response, recovery, and mitigation efforts, and to support pre-evacuation and evacuation activities as they become necessary. This support includes engine and hand crews to assist in containment efforts, and DFPC aerial resources to manage incident response efforts. DHSEM Area Field Managers are providing direct support to Lake, Custer and Pueblo Counties in the local emergency operations center.

Eligible Colorado voters who are impacted by wildfires and who have not yet cast their ballot can visit voting centers across the state to request and receive replacement ballots. Alternatively, voters impacted by wildfire evacuations can request an emergency ballot at https://myballot.coloradosos.gov/app/home.

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