Tag: pueblo county
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Gov. Polis requests FEMA aid in recovery from Aspen Acres, Gold Mountain wildfires
Gov. Jared Polis on Sunday requested a major disaster declaration from President Donald Trump and the Federal Emergency Management Agency for families and communities in three counties recovering from the damage wrought by the still-active Aspen Acres and Gold Mountain fires, according to a news release. “The Aspen Acres and Gold Mountain Fires destroyed over…
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3 Colorado judges receive unfavorable retention recommendation as one performance commission violates rules
Of the 123 Colorado judges standing for retention on the November ballot, citizen-led performance commissions found that three did not meet the required performance standards. However, in an unprecedented move, the commission charged with evaluating Supreme Court and Court of Appeals members stepped in to issue its own narrative after it concluded the local performance…
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Aspen Acres fire: Rye residents scheduled to return home
Residents in the town of Rye are planning for a return home Thursday after officials announced a scheduled change in evacuation status. The mandatory evacuation order for two areas known as zone P-8 and P-11, which includes Rye, will move to pre-evacuation status at 8 a.m. Thursday, according to the Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office, which…
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Colorado wildfires: Aspen Acres surpasses 101,000 acres burned
The Aspen Acres fire in Pueblo and Custer counties has grown by nearly 800 acres since Monday, hitting the 101,546-acre mark, officials announced Tuesday on social media. The fire, the seventh-largest in Colorado history by acreage burned, remained 61% contained and had 1,256 assigned personnel on Tuesday, down about 50 from a day earlier. Some…
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Aspen Acres fire: Mandatory evacuations are back for some residents planning returns to homes
Some residents in Custer County were planning for a return to their homes Monday as evacuation orders related to the Aspen Acres fire had been eased in the morning, but Mother Nature had other ideas. Temperatures in the 80s and humidity below 30% helped the fire on the west side of the boundary, including in…
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San Isabel Electric faces lawsuit over Aspen Acres fire in southern Colorado
Plaintiffs allege power lines played a ‘substantial’ part in the fire’s cause Four people have filed a complaint against the San Isabel Electric Association, claiming the company is responsible for the start of the Aspen Acres fire. The plaintiffs allege in the lawsuit the fire was started by downed power lines owned by the company…
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A Colorado City family helped friends in Rye evacuate. Then the fire came their way.
Kristy Shue’s grandparents arrived in Colorado City more than a century ago to create a family ranch. Shue grew up in the city and moved back with her husband Cody and their two young children last year. On Friday morning, the family sat on the other side of Pueblo County and watched as the Aspen…
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Colorado wildfire roundup: Aspen Acres explodes to 23,000 acres, evacuations from Custer County to I-25
Multiple wildfires continue to burn across Colorado, forcing several evacuations and road closures, according to local and state officials. The fastest-growing and largest fire was first reported at 40 acres around 6 a.m. Monday and began in Custer County near the Pueblo County line. It rapidly grew northeastward to more than 23,100 acres by 5…
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Southern Colorado residents evacuate, then wait and wonder
Towers of smoke were slowly encircling Mountain Shadows Mobile Estates Monday afternoon. A few makeshift sprinklers worked furiously at the western edge of the mobile home community, but hard wind blew ash into scrubby yards. Sandy Merrill paced outside her home while sister Joyce Johnson sat nearby, back to the blaze. Both had evacuated from…
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10th Circuit tosses Pueblo County sheriff defendants’ appeal in fatal shooting lawsuit
The Denver-based federal appeals court rejected an attempt from Pueblo County sheriff’s employees on Wednesday to rely on their own version of the facts to escape liability for fatally shooting an unarmed man outside a middle school. A trial judge ruled last year that the defendants were not entitled to qualified immunity, a judicially created…