The Pueblo Fire Department said the blazes started mid-afternoon in a dense area with dry reeds.
“With the winds we had it started pushing through the reeds very quickly,” Pueblo Fire Captain Woody Percival said. “It did develop two heads and kind of started moving two different directions at the same time.”
The cause of the fires has yet to be determined.
Percival said there were no threats to other structures in the area. Crews have used air drops via helicopter from the Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control to fight the fires using water from the lake.
“We’ve made incredible progress in getting ahead of the heads of the fires stopped. So, there’s still quite a bit of smoke, particularly on the south end of the lake,” Percival said.
Residential areas surround Lake Minnequa, along with a hospital and fire station.
The Desert Willow nursing home evacuated out of precaution. Staff there say the fire was only blocks away from the building.
Fire crews from other agencies in Pueblo County remain on standby to prevent further spread of the fires.
