07/07/2026
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/17Ch1xN5Tp/?mibextid=wwXIfr
Every one of the 1,330 animals at the Pueblo County Fairgrounds got there one of two ways. Somebody drove toward the fire for them, or somebody cut a fence and prayed.
Start with the fences. When the Aspen Acres Fire came over the ridge toward Beulah, Colorado City, and Rye, there was no time. No time to hook up trailers. No time to load horses one at a time while the smoke rolled in. So the Pueblo County Sheriff's Office told fleeing families to do something that sounds unthinkable until you understand it. Cut your fences. Open your gates. Let them run.
A cut fence is not a rescue. It is a parent's version of a prayer. It says: I cannot save you, but I refuse to leave you trapped.
Then those families drove away, watching the glow in their mirrors, not knowing if the animals ran fast enough. Not knowing if their houses would be there either. Official updates now put the losses at more than 260 homes across Pueblo and Custer counties. The fire has burned past 93,000 acres and is only around 13% contained.
But here is the part nobody expected. So many of them made it.
Horses. Cattle. Family pets. Some ran through cut fences and were caught miles away. Some were hauled out by neighbors who drove empty trailers toward the smoke while everyone else drove away from it. According to CBS News Colorado, all 1,330 of them are now being fed and cared for at the fairgrounds by a volunteer group called the Pueblo Community Animal Response Team, while their owners wait to find out what is left.
Not every promise could be kept, though. Rancher Luke Woduick lost nearly everything. "I can't even explain how bad it is," he told CBS News Colorado. "I just feel for all those animals." You can hear what he means underneath it. When you feed an animal every morning of its life, it stops being livestock. It becomes a promise you made.
Then Woduick said one more thing, and it is hard to forget. "I just lost my ranch, so, in a couple of years, the grass will grow."
No bitterness. No self-pity. A man measuring the worst week of his life against the patience of the earth.
The help keeps arriving. Fire trucks from California have joined more than 700 people on the fire lines. In Pueblo, restaurant owner Joey Musso has watched his town absorb thousands of evacuees without blinking. "Truly," he said, "nobody comes together like Puebloans and people in Colorado."
But understand this: the fight is far from over. The fire is still moving, evacuation zones are still changing, and areas in Huerfano and Fremont counties have already been ordered out. If you are anywhere near this fire, do not rely on social media posts, including this one. Conditions change by the hour. Check the official channels below, and keep checking them.
STAY INFORMED. OFFICIAL FIRE RESOURCES:
🔥 Live fire map and alerts (Watch Duty): https://app.watchduty.org/i/105208
🔥 Official incident updates (InciWeb): https://inciweb.wildfire.gov/incident-information/copsf-aspen-acres-fire
🔥 Pueblo County emergency and evacuation info: https://www.puebloemergency.info
🔥 Official fire page: https://www.facebook.com/AspenAcresFire2026
🔥 Pueblo County Sheriff's Office updates: https://pueblosheriff.org
🔥 Joint Information Center (closures, evacuations, disaster assistance): 719-583-4640
