UPDATE | Tuesday, 9 a.m. — The Old San Isabel Fire grew 10 acres overnight and is now 85% contained. The residents who live on Table Mountain Road are not on pre-evacuation notice anymore. The snow Tuesday is helping firefighters, who remain at the scene, according to the Pueblo County Sheriff's Office.
UPDATE | Tuesday, 4:20 p.m. — The Old San Isabel Fire has been declared 100% contained and spread an additional 10 acres overnight Monday, bringing its total size to approximately 137 acres, according to the Pueblo County Sheriff's Office. Rye fire team members will continue to monitor the burn area throughout the next couple of days.
PUEBLO COUNTY, Colo. — Multiple agencies responded to a grass fire near Rye, about 27 miles southwest of Pueblo, that forced evacuations of a local subdivision on Monday.
The Pueblo County Sheriff's Office said people in Pueblo and Pueblo West may see smoke from the fire, which has been named the Old San Isabel Fire. It is 127 acres as of 5 p.m. — corrected from 200 acres earlier in the day — and is burning near Old San Isabel Road, north of Highway 165. It is 85% contained.
At 12:37 p.m., the sheriff's office said evacuations were ordered for residents in the Mount Baldy subdivision and Table Mountain Road in Rye. Anybody who evacuated was welcome to go to the Colorado City Recreation Center, located at 5000 Cuerno Verde Boulevard in Colorado City. All evacuations were lifted by 5 p.m., but residents on Table Mountain Road are on pre-evacuation notice.
Multiple agencies responded, including those from Rye, the Pueblo County Sheriff’s Emergency Services Bureau, Beulah, Pueblo City, Pueblo West, Pueblo Rural, West Park and Pueblo County Road and Bridges, according to the sheriff's office.
District 70 evacuated its students from Rye High School and Rye Elementary School.
One outbuilding was destroyed, the sheriff's office said.
A red flag warning was in effect for Pueblo County and the surrounding areas until 5 p.m. Monday. Wind gusts reached up to 40 mph and humidity was as low as 12%.
No other details were available as of 5 p.m. The cause of the fire is unknown.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
