As the Colorado Sunreports, a massive wildfire burning near Pueblo turned tragic over the weekend with the destruction of hundreds of homes:
The Aspen Acres fire has destroyed 263 homes and four commercial buildings in Pueblo County and Custer counties, officials said Monday afternoon.
Authorities are notifying residents directly if their home was destroyed, but in some areas, damage assessment teams still cannot safely enter burned neighborhoods.
Drones have flown over some of the hardest-hit areas, including Beulah and North Creek area, and officials hope to release that footage “as soon as possible,” Pueblo County Sheriff Dave Lucero said Monday, while cautioning that it will take time before residents of those areas can safely return.
The Aspen Acres fire in Pueblo and Custer counties is now reportedly the 7th-largest blaze in the state’s history and continuing to spread out of control. Meanwhile on the other side of the state, 9NEWS reports on the memorial service held Sunday for three federal firefighters who were killed late last month while battling the Snyder Fire near the Colorado-Utah border:
Sunday morning, leaders from around Colorado came to Grand Junction for a memorial service to remember the three who made the ultimate sacrifice.
“We are grateful for what has been done to help protect the state of Colorado,” said Mike Morgan, Director of the Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control. “We knew it was going to be a challenging year with a wildfire, we’d be losing some property. But losing the life of our firefighters is a truly painful tragedy to us all.”
“Nick, Emily, and Sydney were the very best of us, and they always will be,” said Sarah Fisher, Deputy Chief of Fire and Aviation Management with the U.S. Forest Service.
As Denver7 reports, the large fires burning in multiple locations across the state of Colorado led to the Front Range suffering the worst air quality in the nation, exacerbated by high levels of ozone pollution:
State air quality officials say hot temperatures and wildfire smoke are causing elevated levels of both ozone and fine particulate pollution. An ozone action day alert is in effect for Colorado’s Front Range Urban Corridor through at least 4 p.m. Tuesday.
IQAir data shows Denver outranked major U.S. cities, including Los Angeles and Portland, in terms of poor air quality on Monday.
Rep. Jeff Hurd (R-Grand Junction).
With fire conditions worsening across the state and a major heat wave building for this weekend, firefighting resources are being stretched to the limit. Three federal firefighters gave their lives fighting the Snyder Fire in western Colorado, and firefighters battling the Aspen Acres fire saw their own homes burn while they were defending the property of neighbors. The bravery of these individuals and the expertise of our state and federal firefighters as they work to protect lives and property is above reproach. And it’s true that Colorado’s “year without a winter” last year set the stage for a devastating fire season.
As wildfires rip across the parched American West, federal firefighters say they are facing immense pressure and grappling with a shortage of resources that has worsened following the Trump administration’s staffing cuts. [Pols emphasis]
A collision of risky conditions have made things harder as the summer gets underway: a warm, dry winter; prolonged drought; snowless mountains; thick fuels that have had time to cure — elements that have set the stage for what could be a hellish fire year. The scenario started rearing its head in March and intensified over the last few weeks, with about 50 large fires now burning across the United States, and Utah and Colorado experiencing particularly large or destructive blazes.
So far, we haven’t seen any reporting directly establishing a connection between the sweeping cuts to federal firefighting resources last year and the rapidly worsening situation on the ground this summer as firefighters battle wildfires across the state. And that makes sense. The last thing anyone wants to do is unfairly disparage the people who are literally sacrificing their lives to protect us.
But a reckoning on this subject nonetheless seems inevitable at this point. In 2025, Colorado lost more public lands jobs than any other state. Every person who loses their home, like hundreds of Coloradans just did in the Aspen Acres Fire, is going to rightfully ask if Donald Trump’s cuts to firefighting resources are the reason.
These are not questions that Republicans like Pueblo’s Rep. Jeff Hurd will enjoy answering.
July 07, 2026 10:02 AM UTC
As the Colorado Sun 
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