Applewood Fire Forces Evacuations Near Pueblo as Wildfire Season Puts Thousands of Homes at Risk

Sunday evening felt ordinary in Colorado City until it wasn’t.

Around 6:20 p.m., a wildland fire broke out near Mile Marker 73 on southbound I-25. Wind caught it fast. Within minutes, flames were sweeping west toward Applewood Estates, a mobile home community just off the highway.

By 8:40 p.m., multiple structures, including several homes, had already burned to the ground.

Applewood Fire Forces Evacuations Near Pueblo

The Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office ordered a full evacuation of the Applewood Mobile Home Park. An evacuation center opened at 1650 Cooper Place in Pueblo for displaced residents.

Animal shelters went up simultaneously. The CART team handled large animals at the Colorado State Fairgrounds (Gate 6 on Small Avenue). The Humane Society of the Pikes Peak Region took in small pets at the same Cooper Place address.

No injuries were reported as of Sunday night. The cause is still under investigation. For the latest updates, follow 9News’ live coverage of the Applewood Fire.

Why Mobile Home Parks Are Always the First to Burn

These communities sit close together with little defensible space between homes. One ember lands on dry grass between two units and fire moves like a chain reaction.

Research from the University of Colorado Boulder confirms it: mobile home residents are significantly more likely to lose their homes in wildfires, and their recovery is slower because disaster relief programs often leave this population behind.

The pattern keeps repeating. A mobile home fire in Las Vegas sent a resident to the hospital and left an entire community shaken after $150,000 in damage, and the story behind it looked almost identical to what unfolded in Pueblo on Sunday.

Why This Matters

According to Headwaters Economics, wildfires have destroyed more than 132,400 homes and structures across the U.S. since 2005.

Colorado alone averages 5,618 wildfires per year. In April 2026, FEMA denied federal disaster assistance for Colorado for the first time in 35 years.

The state’s snowpack this winter was record-low. Drought is widespread. Winds Sunday hit Pueblo with gusts strong enough to turn a roadside spark into a neighborhood disaster within the hour.

If you want real-time updates on home safety incidents as they develop, there’s a WhatsApp channel that covers these stories the moment they break, worth having on your radar.

The Home Prep Steps Most Families Skip

Everyone knows to pack a go bag. Few people actually do the rest.

Zone 0 is the most skipped step. The 0 to 5-foot perimeter immediately surrounding your home is the most critical line of defense, not your yard, not your fence line. Clear everything combustible from that ring. Pots, mulch, wood piles, doormats. All of it.

Vents and gutters matter more than landscaping. Two out of three homes destroyed in wildfires are ignited by embers, not flames. Those embers enter through open vents and collect in clogged gutters. That is where fires actually start inside homes.

It’s a pattern that plays out in fires of every kind. North Texas homes damaged by lightning fires during severe storms showed exactly how fast a structure gets compromised when there’s no prep in place.

Medications and pet carriers are afterthoughts until they’re not. A three-day prescription gap during evacuation can turn a bad situation into a medical emergency. A pet with no carrier means a delayed evacuation, and in a fast-moving fire, delay costs everything.

A New Jersey woman lost everything in a house fire and said her poodle was the only reason she got out alive, a sharp reminder that pets and split-second decisions are inseparable when fire moves fast.

Know how to open your garage door manually. Power goes out during wildfires. Find the red cord tonight and try it once before you ever need it.

If you’re told to leave, go immediately. The Applewood Fire gave residents almost no lead time. Every minute spent hesitating is a minute you don’t get back.

What preparation step do you think most people in wildfire-prone areas still ignore? Drop it in the comments, it might help someone else reading this.

Wrapping Up

The Applewood Fire started near a highway and destroyed homes in under two hours. No dramatic wall of flame, no hours of warning, just wind, dry grass, and a community that ran out of time.

Clear your Zone 0. Fix your vents. Put medications in your go bag. Know your two ways out. That’s the difference between leaving with your family and leaving with nothing.

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Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. For evacuation orders and emergency instructions, follow guidance from the Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office and local authorities.