Pueblo firefighters extend helping hand after destructive Boulder County wildfire

A seasoned Pueblo West firefighter who was among a team of nine locals answering the call for help in the aftermath of the Marshall Fire in Boulder County last week described a scene of destruction unlike anything he had ever seen.

Pueblo West firefighter and paramedic Mike Hood, who fought fires for the U.S. Forest Service throughout the country before taking the Pueblo West job a little more than a year ago, said he'd "never seen that much destruction from such a small fire.”

The roughly 6,200-acre Marshall Fire destroyed 991 homes over a 10-square mile swath between Louisville, Superior and El Dorado Springs in Boulder County, fueled by high winds gusting, at times, to more than 100 miles per hour.

“That’s a small fire in the wildland. I have seen a lot of houses burned down but they are usually 100,000-acre fires,” he said.

“Seeing that much destruction in such a small area was pretty crazy."

Story continues below

Pueblo-area firefighters worked through the night

Pueblo County sent “a very small portion of the cavalry” on Dec. 31 to help as part of a state surge of firefighters, Hood said. The local firefighting group included three Pueblo West, two Pueblo city, two Pueblo rural and two Beulah firefighters who took three engines to help their northern Colorado neighbors.

Working out of an incident command center at an old Macy’s store at the Flat Iron Crossings shopping mall, the firefighters answered calls during the night shift.

“They were using us as a fire response to 911 calls inside of the fire boundaries. We were out all night and people would call in reports of structure fires,” he said.

Most of the calls pertained to old structures that were still burning but the Pueblo firefighters conducted mitigation work to make sure the fires would not spread to unburned buildings. It was grueling work, as the temperature had plummeted to 10 degrees and snow was falling, so the team had to deal with frozen pumps and hoses.

COVID: Pueblo mayor's request for county-wide mask mandate denied by board of health

“There were whole neighborhoods that were just gone. And then you would find neighborhoods where a cul de sac of houses had burned down and no other houses around them were touched — which was just crazy,” Hood explained.

In the darkness, as the snow was falling, the team saw burnt-out trucks sitting in the middle of the road, metal lamp posts that had drooped in the heat and the rubble of destroyed apartment buildings lying next to other apartments standing intact behind them.

“It was very eerie and surreal, to say the least,” Hood said of the 24-hour deployment.

Story continues below

Even among tragedy, there is gratitude

There were no homeowners inside the fire boundaries but Hood did get a chance to talk to a few at the hotel where the firefighters were staying. One couple had learned they had lost their home but were thankful to be safe.

“They said, ‘We will get through this,’ which was very impressive,” Hood reported. “Their spirits were high — they knew they lost everything, but they were good.”

Another man Hood met, who was walking his dog when the fires hit, was able to get his son and escape but did not know the fate of his home.

“He was pretty heartbroken because he didn’t know. Different emotions for everybody,” Hood said.

Although working the scene of devastation was depressing for the firefighters, Hood said he always gets satisfaction from assisting people in need.

“I love helping as much as I can. I’ve been on countless deployments for both fire or medical calls and it is always a good feeling to go help,” he said.

Trending: Appeal denied for Pueblo church fighting municipal code violations on religious grounds

Chieftain reporter Tracy Harmon covers business news. She can be reached by email at tharmon@chieftain.com or via Twitter at twitter.com/tracywumps.

This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Pueblo County firefighters lend aid after destructive Marshall Fire