Middle Creek Canyon residents ordered to evacuate amid wildfire
Editor's note: This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
The Pueblo County Sheriff's Office has issued a mandatory evacuation for Middle Creek Canyon residents after the Oak Ridge Fire grew to 170 acres. Agencies are setting up an evacuation center at the Pueblo County Parks and Recreation Building, located at 1543 Cooper Place.
Residents on Vine Mesa, Cascade Avenue, Pine Avenue and Beulah Highlands Road have been placed on pre-evacuation notice.
The Beulah Fire Protection District and Ambulance District posted on Facebook at 3:25 p.m. on Monday that the fire grew to 170 acres. A 7:30 p.m. Monday update listed the size at 275 acres after a Colorado Multi-Mission Aircraft mapping flight.
A hotshot crew was dispatched Monday to respond to a wildfire northwest of Beulah in Pueblo County.
The Pikes Peak Hotshots and other agencies were working Monday to gain access to the fire’s edge. They disengaged after doing so to “evaluate the best tactics” to combat the fire, according to an update from the United States Forest Service.
“They’re just working on getting a fire line around it,” Vidalia Vigil, public information officer for the USFS, told the Chieftain on Monday afternoon. “They had ordered a Type 1 and Type 3 helicopter. They’re working to gain access and get up there to be able to suppress the fire.”
In an update early Monday afternoon, the USFS noted that the fire’s activity increased but that there was no threat to any structures. It reported zero containment of the fire and did not know the cause of its ignition.
Middle Creek Canyon residents were placed on pre-evacuation notice as a result of the fire activity on June 24 around 2 p.m.
In a subsequent update, the agency stated that the fire grew to 30 acres and that additional air resources had been ordered.
The fire, which is being referred to as the Oak Ridge Fire, was first reported by the USFS Saturday morning around 9 a.m. It is located three miles northwest of Beulah and grew to 1.5 acres more than a day later.
As of 1:30 p.m. on Monday, the fire had grown to approximately 5 acres. A Type 1 helicopter was ordered to assist with the fire.
Helicopters began fighting the fire Saturday with suppressants. Both Type 1 and Type 3 helicopters were used to fight the fire on Sunday, as were air tankers, which dropped fire retardant.
Chieftain reporter Josué Perez can be reached at JHPerez@gannett.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @josuepwrites. Support local news, subscribe to The Pueblo Chieftain at subscribe.chieftain.com.
This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Hotshot crew dispatched to tackle fire near Beulah in Pueblo County
