Multiple suspicious weekend fires in Pueblo

This weekend, a string of suspicious fires have been popping up all through Pueblo County, and authorities haven’t ruled out foul play for any of them.

The fires began early Friday morning at the Waste Management site in Pueblo County. Four garbage trucks were damaged by fire, leading to thousands of dollars in damages. Three of those vehicles are in need of repairs and one was damaged so badly from the flames it is no longer functional.

Police are still waiting to view the video footage at the Waste Management site to see exactly how the fire started. They haven’t ruled out foul play.

However, those weren’t the only fires on Friday.

“On that same day we had four other fires centrally concentrated here in downtown,” said Sgt. Frank Ortega of the Pueblo Police Department.

Like before the target was trash. Four separate trash fires have erupted during the evening hours Friday. Residential homes wouldn’t be spared from the flames either.
“I was kind of peaking around the corner looking for the fire trucks hoping they get here soon,” said Ora Potter, whose father lives on the 1000 block of East Orman Avenue where a fire devastated an abandoned home on Saturday and nearly burned down their neighboring garage.

Police say neighbors saw juveniles running away from the scene. However, Potter says she saw something like this happening.

“There are a lot of random people living there,” said Potter. “A lot of people coming out of there. There was just a lot of activity.”

Later that evening just a few blocks away on the 900 block of Jackson Street, another fire erupted. “It actually was the fence behind the home that was actually burned,” said Sgt. David Woods of the Pueblo Police department who on the scene of both suspicious Saturday fires. “As of right now we don’t know if this is accidental or an intentional act. We’re canvassing the neighborhood to see if anyone saw anything that might be considered suspicious.”

With foul play not ruled out for any of the weekend fires, are any of them connected? “As far as making a connection I would think they would look at all investigative avenues and that’s one of them to see if they are connected,” said Sgt. Ortega. Sgt. Ortega says investigators are speaking with an individual in connection to the waste management fire. However, that person is not a person of interest or suspect at this time.

Police are hoping to have more answers as the investigation continues into the week.