A Monday afternoon evacuation order from the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office for a small wildfire in an area west of Interstate 25, halfway between Pueblo and Colorado Springs, has been cancelled.
The sheriff’s office announced shortly after 6 p.m. that residents who had evacuated an area of the 20700 block of Outback View, about six miles west of Wigwam, could return.
The Hanover Fire Protection District, which is based a few miles south of Fountain, that two structures burned in the fire — a house and an outbuilding. Investigators are looking at the house as the potential source of the fire, which burned about 50 to 75 acres of grassland.
The district said its crews “remain on scene and will continue working diligently to locate and extinguish hot spots to ensure the fire is fully contained and safe.”
El Paso County Sheriff Sgt. Kurt Smith told The Denver Post on Monday night that his office is investigating a potential act of arson on Sunday in that “same general area.”
“As of right now, we have no evidence to connect the two,” he said.
He said the sheriff’s office will be issuing a press release on Tuesday regarding Sunday’s incident but wouldn’t provide more details.
The Bureau of Land Management said the blaze, which is called the , was human-caused but provided no other details.
Authorities issued the evacuation notice shortly after 4 p.m. on Monday.
