The Aspen Acres fire has destroyed more than 850 structures — including at least 337 homes — southwest of Pueblo, authorities announced Friday, as the scope of the devastation from the nearly 100,000-acre wildfire came into sharper focus.

Colorado officials allowed some of the thousands of people displaced by four major wildfires burning around the state to return home this week, with more evacuation orders lifted Friday as firefighters gradually gain containment.

The Aspen Acres fire is the largest of those four wildfires, having burned an estimated 97,083 acres, or nearly 152 square miles, as of Friday. Some 2,000 people are currently fighting the blaze, which has now been 28% contained. The wildfire’s footprint is nearly the size of Denver, and it remains the seventh-largest in the state’s recorded history.

Brad Washa, an operations section chief with the Alaska Complex Incident Management Team, which is leading the firefighting efforts, said the Aspen Acres fire has destroyed approximately 851 buildings in Pueblo and Custer counties.

“We definitely have lost a lot of structures on the Aspen Acres fire,” Washa said Friday morning. “…But as many structures that we did see lost, you know, fighting the fire the last couple of days, there were a lot of good saves. And that was in part because people did work around their homes before the fire came through.”

Fire officials have not given further details as to where these 851 burned structures were located or how many were homes, outbuildings or businesses.

Pueblo County Sheriff David Lucero on Friday afternoon said damage assessment teams had completed evaluations of more than 600 homes within the fire perimeter in that county, and determined that 254 homes were destroyed. Custer County officials previously said 83 homes were destroyed in that county.

“Behind every one of those numbers is a family, cherished memories and a lifetime of hard work,” Lucero said at a news briefing. “Our hearts go out to every person who has suffered such a devastating loss.”

Officials reduced mandatory evacuation orders to pre-evacuation in parts of southern Pueblo County. Fremont County officials, meanwhile, lifted all remaining mandatory evacuations, though areas near the fire are still on pre-evacuation alerts. Residents should be ready to leave if fire behavior changes, county leaders said.

The exact origin of the Aspen Acres fire remains under investigation, but officials believe it was human-caused.

Together, the Aspen Acres, Ferris, Gold Mountain and Willow fires have burned 196,596 acres, or 307 square miles, as of Friday.

Thunderstorms brought rain to several of the fires, but it wasn’t enough to change conditions dramatically for fire crews. More exceedingly hot, dry weather is expected this weekend and next week.

In western Dolores County, fire crews continued to battle the Ferris fire in the San Juan National Forest. That blaze has consumed 62,916 acres, or 98 square miles, and is 19% contained. Officials ordered new evacuations for western Dolores County near the town of Dove Creek and north of U.S. 491.

The Ferris fire was most active along the western portion and reached the Bradfield Bridge Campground, but has not damaged any structures, fire officials said.

The Gold Mountain fire near Ouray grew about 1,000 acres from Thursday into Friday and is now burning 33,185 acres, or 52 square miles, with 7% containment. Mandatory evacuations remained in place Friday north of the fire, while restrictions west of the fire were reduced to pre-evacuation notice.

Near Leadville, Lake County officials lifted some pre-evacuation warnings Thursday as containment on the Willow fire grew to 22%. The blaze has burned about 4,500 acres, or 7 square miles, of forest near Turquoise Lake and Leadville.

Denver Post staff writers Nick Coltrain and Katie Langford contributed to this report.

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