About two weeks ago the word went out to volunteer firefighters in Pueblo and Custer counties: “Get your gear together. There's a fire coming down on Beulah.”
“Monday was a nightmare that we hoped we never had to see. At one point we looked up, and we could see it starting to come over the hill. I called one of the local guys, one of the volunteers, and said, 'How bad is it?' And he said, 'You need to get here.' At that point it was just get in there and start saving what we can,” said firefighters on 9NewsDenver.
Associated Press reported that this is only one of 40 uncontained large blazes in the West. These fires were brought about by months of dry weather and a severe lack of snow during winter in some places.
The Aspen Acres fire has claimed 337 homes. Pastor Isaac Cowger of Grand View Baptist Church says some of those belonged to his congregation.
“My congregation sits at about 60% of the people that have lost their houses. The church has been kind of surrounded by fire, but firefighters were able to keep the fire away from our house and the church,” Cowger says.
Adding insult to injury, he mentions that much of the community is in the Front Range of the Rockies, a region susceptible to fire.
“In the valley there, a lot of people lost insurance before this fire because we're in the mountains. We're in this deep place, and a lot of insurance companies have dropped people,” Cowger states. “The people are just trying to get over the fact that they have nothing to go back to, and so coping is very emotional.”
Cowger is understandably overwhelmed at times, but he says God is showing up.
“The Holy Spirit and God just equip you for what is around you and what you're going through,” Cowger says.
According to Colorado Baptist Disaster Relief, they’re upcoming deployment will help communities affected by the Aspen Acres Fire, and they are asking for volunteers. They were requested to serve in the cities of Beulah, Rye and Colorado City.
