City of Pueblo says recent fires were a wake-up call, not enough people signed up for emergency alerts

PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO) - The City of Pueblo is calling the two large fires last week a wake-up call for residents.

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A spokesperson for the city said many residents are not signed up for the city's emergency alert system that notifies residents of a fire or a critical incident, and called this a major problem. They also told KRDO 13 that the Vision Hills Fire and the EVRAZ Fire could have easily gotten out of control. 

Emergency dispatchers like Caitlin Grist sent out emergency notifications all day last Friday and Saturday as the fires burned. She describes both days as "chaotic."

The city sent out pre-evacuation orders for the Visions Hills Fire on Friday as well as a shelter-in-place for the EVRAZ Fire using its emergency notification system.

However, the dispatch center in Pueblo learned early on that only 2.5% of city residents are registered for these life-saving alerts. 

"We don't get a whole lot of mass critical incidents like the fires in Pueblo City Limits, where we would have to send out those reverse 9-1-1's often. We're lucky like that," said Grist.

However, Grist said this should not steer people away from signing up. She said this past week they were lucky, but next time they might not be.

"The Vision Hills Fire could have easily spread larger than it did. The EVRAZ Fire jumped once off of their property from falling embers. The more people we have signed up, the better it is," said Grist.

Pueblo County said people who were in the area where the Vision Hills Fire was burning automatically got an evacuation notification on Saturday once the fire was turned over to them. 

Still, the city said emergency alerts are vital and something it relies on to get information out to the public.

If you want to sign up for these life-saving emergency alert notifications, click here.