Dozens of acres burned across southern Colorado on Monday in several new blazes and the slowly growing 102,003-acre Aspen Acres fire.
About 130 firefighters continued to battle the seventh-largest fire in state history on Monday as crews maintained around 70% containment 42 days after it ignited.
Crews minimized growth of the blaze to 800 acres in its sixth week, allowing over 300 firefighters to depart and all remaining evacuation and pre-evacuation orders to be lifted.
It is a stark contrast from July, when at least 1,000 firefighters from across the country worked on the fire for 20 consecutive days amid numerous evacuation and pre-evacuation orders in Custer, Fremont, Huerfano and Pueblo counties.
The response peaked at 1,934 firefighters on July 12, and the last three pre-evacuation orders were lifted on Friday.
The dozens still battling the fire are working on indirect containment lines and structure protection near Lake Isabel, according to a Monday morning update by Wyoming Type 3 Incident Management Team 5, which is running the operation now.
Incident command remains focused on suppression repair by restoring fire lines, which they anticipate to complete by next week.
They will be working in warm temperatures and thunderstorms with gusty winds that are forecast in the fire area this week.
Incident command emphasized that a temporary flight restriction remains in place above the fire area for all unauthorized aircraft, including drones, in Monday’s update.
In El Paso County, a couple new fires burned several dozen acres before being contained on Monday afternoon.
A fire north of the Fountain Valley School prompted the Sheriff’s Office to issue an evacuation order along Passing Sky Drive for about 45 minutes.
The Security Fire Department was the lead agency on the fire, and sheriff’s deputies were also on scene.
At 3:30 p.m., the city of Fountain, whose firefighters helped respond, posted on social media that the 40-acre fire was “mostly under control” and crews would remain for several hours to put out hot spots and monitor flare-ups.
A phone call by The Gazette to the Security Fire Department was unanswered. The origin, size and containment of the fire were not reported by the Sheriff’s Office.
The area of the fire indicated by the Sheriff’s Office is north of the Fountain Valley School campus, which was partially within the radius of the order.
Widefield District 3 students living in the area who use bus transportation were returned to their schools for parental pickup, according to the Sheriff’s Office. Monday was D-3’s first day of the 2026-27 school year.
Elsewhere in the county on Monday, Peyton and Calhan firefighters extinguished a grass fire near the North Ellicott Highway.
Crews mop up a grass fire near the North Ellicott Highway in El Paso County on Monday, Aug. 10, 2026. (Courtesy of the Peyton Fire Protection District)
“To piggy back off our post from earlier! THINGS THAT CAUSE FIRE: dragging chains, throwing cigarettes out of the window, riding mowers, welding outdoors, shooting and much more!” a post on social media by the Peyton Fire Protection District about the fire stated.
No cause for Monday’s fire was reported.
In Baca County, two fires began on Monday amid another that ignited on Sunday. The two fires west of Campo and one south of it burned nearly 200 acres and were all reported as contained by Monday evening.
The 87-acre Red fire and 100-acre 2360 fire burned through sagebrush and grasses after a lightning strike, according to the U.S. Forest Service. The cause of the 11-acre Elder fire was reported as natural by the National Interagency Fire Center.
Another lightning strike started a fire 3 miles southeast of Bailey in Park County on Monday.
Units were on the way by 6:45 p.m. to the 0.1-acre Insmont fire burning pine needles and timber, the USFS stated. It was reportedly contained by 7:30 p.m.
Across the county line to its southwest, a 0.2-acre fire was reported Monday evening north of Maysville in Chaffee County. USFS firefighters based in the Salida District Office were dispatched to the Weldon fire, which is several miles west of the city, according to federal dispatch data.