The Vision Hills fire burning in Pueblo grew 25 acres Saturday morning — jumping from 82 acres to 107 by noon, according to sheriff’s office officials.
As of 6 p.m., the fire was 80% contained and any active evacuation or pre-evacuation orders had been lifted.
“We’re not out of the woods yet, but we’re in a better place than we were yesterday,” Pueblo Sheriff David Lucero said in a Saturday afternoon news conference. “…We’re making pretty good headway on that, but the winds are going to affect our response and what we’re able to do.”
Fire officials lifted the evacuation order for residents a half mile north of 1945 Overton Road at 10:30 a.m., according to the Pueblo County Sheriff’s office.
Officials put the area back on pre-evacuation status and expanded the pre-evacuation zone nearly two miles Saturday morning, Lucero said. The sheriff’s office lifted the pre-evacuation — between 1940 Overton Rd and 2715 Overton Rd — at 6 p.m.
As of 3:30 p.m. Saturday, no structures had been affected by the fire and no residents were killed, Pueblo Mayor Heather Graham said in the afternoon news conference.
The fire was reported at 12:36 p.m. Friday and initially was estimated at 100 acres by the Bureau of Land Management’s wildfire dashboard.
Saturday night, sheriff’s officials updated the estimate, announcing the fire was 80% contained and burning on 82 acres around 5 p.m.
Lucero said the fire response team is still concerned about air quality and the dust that has kicked up because of the fire.
Pueblo and most of the Front Range saw high winds Saturday set to continue through Sunday, with gusts up to 100 mph possible, according to the National Weather Service. The area is under an NWS Air Quality Alert until 9 p.m. Saturday.
The Environmental Protection Agency arrived late Friday night in Pueblo to do air quality testing and they are still on-site to monitor the situation, Graham said.
Fire crews will remain active to monitor the fire overnight, sheriff’s office officials said. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
