Pueblo man rescues hundreds of animals from Aspen Acres fire

Chad Ingo – photo credit: Chelsea Casabona/Colorado PBS

Chelsea Casabona -Colorado PBS

PUEBLO, Colo. — When the Aspen Acres fire started to burn early in the morning of June 29, Pueblo resident Chad Ingo and his step-mom, Kriste Ingo, wanted to help.

Ingo and his family have trailers and land resources they wanted to share to help expedite the animal evacuation process. They posted on Facebook.

“The Ingo family here in Pueblo Colorado would like to extend out our help during this time… all of the Ingo Family has everyone in our prayers and will help in any way,” Ingo wrote in a Facebook post, which included his phone number. The post has since racked up more than 1,100 likes and resulted in dozens of phone calls requesting help, Ingo said.

Ingo, 39, owns a trucking company in Pueblo, which made it easier for him to rearrange his schedule and spring into action, volunteering to rescue all sorts of animals — horses, pigs, bulls and yaks — for ranchers, farmers and residents who needed to evacuate and pre-evacuate from Custer, Pueblo, Fremont and Huerfano Counties.

“I might have slept 10 hours all week long,” Ingo said. “My adrenaline and mind and heart were all racing trying to help as many people and animals as I could.”

As of Friday morning, the Aspen Acres Fire has burned more than 97,000 acres of land throughout Custer and Pueblo Counties and is only 28% contained. The source of the fire is still under investigation, but officials say it was human-caused. It is one of 10 wildfires currently burning across the state of Colorado, according to data from the National Interagency Fire Center.

Ingo also owns bulls and competes in rodeos as a hobby. Using the skills he learned from taking care of his bulls and growing up around all types of animals, he drove down to Colorado City with a rope in hand and a 32 foot black pipe livestock trailer towed behind his Ram 3500 truck to corral animals in the path of the fire. Some nights, he didn’t get home until around 4 a.m., he said.

One of the dozen yaks Ingo rescued Photo by Chelsea Casabona – Colorado PBS

Ingo also recruited the help of his neighbor, Jack Snell, who owns a feeding lot conveniently located near Ingo’s house. Ingo has been using Snell’s lot to house about a dozen yaks and more than two dozen rodeo bulls, each from separate owners impacted by the fire. He’s also been keeping other animals he saves, like horses and pigs, at his family’s houses until their owners are able to retrieve them.

“This is a horrible monster,” Snell, 68, who has lived in Pueblo his entire life, said about the wildfire. “There’s no comparison. This is one nasty fire.”

This year’s record warm and dry year in Colorado, which has been impacting hay supplies for livestock producers throughout the state, has also limited Ingo’s feed for his bulls. Despite the low supply, Ingo has been dipping into his feed to feed the different livestock he rescued and has been keeping at Snell’s pen.

“It’s a double whammy for them,” Snell said about the wildfire scorching farmers’ land south of Pueblo, further exacerbating an already difficult year to feed livestock. “It really is.”

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