By O’Dell Isaac
The Gazette
PUEBLO, Colo. — For more than two weeks, hundreds of firefighters in Pueblo and Custer counties have been working grueling, 16-hour days battling the Aspen Acres wildfire with an 8-hour break before donning their gear and jumping back into the fight.
But during those eight hours, they need a place to eat, shower and sleep. Sometimes equipment malfunctions and needs to be repaired. Minor nicks and bruises need to be tended to.
That’s where the base camp comes in.
| BETTER EVERY SHIFT: Fennessy’s vision for the future of wildfire response
Initially established by Alaska Complex Incident Management Team 6, the base camp contains much of the same infrastructure as a small city, including a supply depot, fueling stations, a communications hub, ground support crews, sanitation, food and sleeping quarters.
As the wildland blaze grew out of control, officials determined that it was beyond the capacity of local and state agencies. That’s when the Alaska team mobilized, bringing an advance team that set up a support camp on the Colorado State University-Pueblo campus. The entire process took about two days, according to logistics chief Terri Berri .
“The fire was large and growing fast,” Berri said. “So we needed to set up quickly.”
The wildfire has been burning for more than two weeks, scorching nearly 100,000 acres and destroying hundreds of structures. It has taken a herculean effort to establish 36% containment as of Tuesday, as firefighters have dealt with dry fuels, hot weather and unfriendly terrain.
It’s hot, exhausting work, and the base camp’s entire existence is to provide a place for crews to eat, shower and rest before resupplying.
“That’s the reason this place exists — to support the firefighting efforts on the ground and in the air,” Berri said.
The supply area is “the Walmart of the base camp,” where firefighters can pick up replacement equipment like gloves, hard hats, tools, canteens and even fire shelters. Pallets of gas cans stand at the ready as well.
“It’s not just the fire engines that need fuel,” Berri explained. “Chain saws need fuel. Dozers need fuel. This incident has needs that are beyond the average gas station.”
Ground support crews stand at the ready to maintain or repair bulldozers, trucks and other equipment — “anything with wheels or tracks,” said incident spokesman Steve Lipsher.
Several nearby buildings on the campus are being used as sleeping quarters, officials said.
“I can’t say enough about the community here,” Berri said. “They’ve been fantastic in supporting us throughout this ordeal, even though they are going through a tough time.”
On Tuesday afternoon, thousands of pounds of ice were being offloaded from supply trucks onto pallets for use later that day. Every other day, the camp receives eight pallets of ice weighing more than 17,000 pounds, officials said.
“Ice is one thing you definitely don’t want to be without when you’re fighting a fire in these conditions,” Lipsher said.
The camp also receives more than 12,000 bottles of Gatorade and nearly 20,000 bottles of water each day.
Several trailers provide shower stalls, and multiple portable toilets are available for … relief purposes.
“I don’t know how many porta-potties we have,” Berri said. “But it’s a lot.”
Law enforcement officers patrol the grounds on a regular basis, much like a public safety department in a town or city, Lipsher said.
Caterers dish out meals from food trailers nearly around the clock, as each firefighter gets two hot meals and a box lunch each day, packed with enough energy to sustain them through a day that might burn as much as 8,000 calories.
“It’s cafeteria-style eating,” Lipsher said. “It’s not fancy, but it’s good food and it meets the calorie requirements. It keeps the firefighters going.”
A “camp crew” of local teenagers does a lot of the heavy lifting, moving water and ice, handing out lunches and keeping the area clean.
“We try to be as respectful as we can of the local community, because this is their home and they’ll be here when we’re gone,” Berri said. “The camp crews are integral to that.”
A similar, smaller base camp is currently situated in Westcliffe, Lipsher said.
Providing nearly everything within a small nearby pop-up city helps the firefighters do their jobs more efficiently, which makes everything safer, Berri said.
“The last thing we want is tired, hungry firefighters out there,” she said. “That wouldn’t be safe, so fatigue management is a big part of what we do.”
© 2026 The Gazette (Colorado Springs, Colo.).
Visit www.gazette.com.
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
