Beulah Fire Chief Addresses Aspen Acres Fire Recovery, Reentry Delays, Hazard Trees and Evacuation Safety

Description: Beulah Fire Chief Ware updates the community on 193 homes lost, hazard tree removal, evacuation safety, utility restoration, reentry plans, and long-term wildfire recovery.


Published: 07/08/2026
Byline: SECO News

A Message from our Fire Chief:

To Our Beulah Community,
 
I want to begin with this: every one of you is on our minds every moment of the day. Our hearts hurt alongside yours. We watched part of our community be devastated by this wildfire, and now we are facing the difficult work that comes after the flames. I wanted to take a few moments this morning to address some of the misinformation we're hearing and explain the decisions that are being made as we move through this recovery.
 
Property Assessments and Hazard Trees
 
The Beulah Fire Protection and Ambulance District has confirmed the loss of 193 primary residences. This number does not include outbuildings, vehicles, or other personal property. Completing damage assessments on that many homes has taken time, and that work was finalized yesterday. The Pueblo County Sheriff's Office is now working to personally notify each affected property owner.
 
Our next priority is safety.
 
We are working with professional tree faller crews to evaluate every damaged property, as well as many surviving properties, for hazardous trees. While many trees remain standing, countless others have burned internally, leaving damaged roots and weakened trunks that may appear stable but could fall without warning. These trees present a serious risk to homeowners, utility crews, and first responders.
 
The tree crews are working 16-hour days identifying and removing only those trees that pose an immediate hazard. No standing trees are being removed simply because they were burned. Hazard trees are only being removed when necessary to protect life and property, and any additional tree removal will involve the property owner.
 
Once our community is safe enough to begin reentry, the District will work with homeowners on future mitigation efforts, including discussions about removing additional fire-damaged trees and expanding mitigation work into areas that were not previously included.
 
As hazard tree work progresses and fire activity around these properties subsides, the Pueblo County Sheriff's Office will begin contacting property owners who lost homes to schedule escorted visits. These visits will allow families time to see their property, begin processing their loss, and recover any belongings that may still be salvageable.
We understand how desperately people want to return. Please do not attempt to enter through checkpoints or find alternate ways into closed areas. The reality is that these areas are still not safe. We promise we will get you back as quickly as we can, but we have to do it safely.
 
Why Evacuation Orders Still Matter
 
There has also been considerable misunderstanding about who has remained in evacuated areas and why some people have been allowed inside.
Under Colorado law, unless an evacuation is ordered by the Governor, residents may legally choose not to leave their own property during a mandatory evacuation. However, those individuals are expected to remain on their property.
 
During this fire, some people chose not to evacuate and then left their properties to drive throughout the community. In some cases, individuals removed water from public sources believing they were helping firefighting efforts. While these actions may have been well-intentioned, they created additional hazards and diverted valuable resources.
 
Every civilian vehicle on the road reduced firefighter safety in smoke-filled conditions, increased the risk of accidents involving emergency responders, and required law enforcement officers to shift their attention away from evacuating threatened neighborhoods.
 
I also want to be clear about something that has become part of the conversation. The structures and businesses that remain standing were saved because of the coordinated efforts of local firefighters, state resources, federal crews, law enforcement, and emergency personnel who risked their lives protecting this community.
 
Now, as we begin recovery, we are seeing people attempting to reenter evacuated areas under false pretenses. Every unauthorized entry takes personnel away from firefighting, damage assessment, utility restoration, and recovery operations.
 
Although the most aggressive fire behavior has moved beyond Beulah, the danger has not.
 
Large portions of the fire remain uncontained. Firefighters continue to patrol for hotspots that can reignite. Just yesterday, our department responded to two separate rekindles in areas where the main incident teams had already moved on to more active fire suppression. Combined with hazardous trees, unstable ground, damaged utilities, and poor visibility in some locations, these conditions make reentry unsafe.
 
This is an exceptionally large wildfire. Recovery cannot happen overnight.
 
To everyone who has respected the closures and followed our requests, thank you. Your patience and cooperation are helping us move this community toward recovery. For those who continue to ignore the closures, I ask you to understand that these actions only slow the process for everyone.
 
Utilities and Returning Home
 
We are working closely with electric, water, and communications providers to restore essential services throughout the community. Unfortunately, this will take time.
 
We know many homes have now gone days without power, and refrigerators and freezers will contain spoiled food. As reentry begins, we are coordinating with the Pueblo County Sheriff's Office Emergency Management Division and the Pueblo County Health Department to provide dumpsters and safe disposal options for spoiled food and other household waste. We also plan to provide gloves, masks, and other protective supplies to help residents safely begin cleaning their homes.
 
We will continue providing updates as these plans develop.
 
At this time, I cannot give you a firm date for reentry. Conditions continue to change daily, and our decisions will always be based on safety.
 
Looking Ahead
 
Everyone at Beulah Fire wants our community home. We miss you. We love you. This valley is our home too.
Beulah has endured wildfires and evacuations before, but nothing on this scale. Recovery will look different this time, and it will take patience from all of us.
I have no doubt we will rebuild. We will support one another. We will remain the close-knit community that has always defined Beulah.
 
Our firefighters, EMTs, volunteers, and support personnel have been working 16 to 18-hour days. We are physically exhausted. We are emotionally exhausted. Like many of you, we have watched friends, neighbors, and fellow firefighters lose homes while continuing to answer calls and serve this community. Yet every morning we come back because this is our home, too.
 
As we eventually return to normal life, another challenge will begin. Burn scars dramatically increase the risk of flash flooding, debris flows, and erosion. These hazards will become part of our reality for some time. Just as we have throughout this fire, Beulah Fire will continue preparing, educating, and working alongside our partners to help keep this community informed and safe.
 
Thank you for your patience, your support, your prayers, and your trust.
 
I know not everyone will agree with every decision we have made. I respect that. But please know that every decision has been made with one goal in mind: protecting lives and bringing our community home as safely as possible.
 
We will get through this together.

Chief Ware

Beulah Fire Protection and Ambulance District



Follow SECO News on Facebook.
Subscribe to the SECO News YouTube Channel.



Press releases Sponsor