High winds — gusts of up to 100 mph — swept across the Front Range on Thursday, December 30, causing power outages and helping spark the most destructive wildfire in Colorado history, in terms of financial losses.
The Marshall Fire was reported just after 11am at South Foothills Highway and Marshall Road. It spread quickly throughout the day, reaching around 1,600 acres by 5pm. Mandatory evacuations were issued in Louisville, Superior and unincorporated Boulder County. Officials spent Thursday rushing ahead of the flames, trying to get people out of harm’s way. Responders often had to turn away as they approached neighborhoods because of the extreme heat.
By late Thursday night, the Marshall fire had burned 6,000 acres and destroyed nearly 1,000 homes and businesses.
By Friday afternoon, the blaze had finished with its destruction — a swath of incinerated suburban homes and businesses a half mile wide. One estimate of the economic damage stands at $850 million.
As of Sunday, two local residents were still unaccounted for.
In 2017, a Colorado Wildfire Risk Assessment Update by the Colorado State Forest Service quantified and classified the threat of wildfire for the entire state, and indicated that more than half of the state’s residents live in areas prone to fire — basically, anywhere human-built structures and flammable vegetation can mix.
In the past, when scientists have measured fire risks, they haven’t typically considered houses as “fuel”. Homes have been treated, instead, as the “values at risk”.
As evidenced on Thursday night, during the Marshall fire, however, houses definitely became fuel for an uncontrollable fire. Future research on how fire spreads from home to home could spur new rules in Colorado — like building codes in California that require fire-resistant building materials.
For our readers who would like to make donations to the fire victims, here are several organizations recommended by news outlets in the Boulder area.
Community Foundation Boulder County
Community Foundation Boulder County has a long track record of working with a wide variety of community groups to ensure that crisis support can last for years. Their staff also lives in the community and have been impacted by the fire.
More than 30,000 people had to evacuate because of this emergency. Community Foundation Boulder County will be in it for the long haul; their Boulder County Wildfire Fund will meet short and long-term needs of Coloradans impacted by the Marshall Fire.
A donation website hosted jointly by 9News had raised $1.3 million by this morning, for the Boulder County Wildfire Fund. You can add your donation, here.
Colorado Responds
Anyone who wants to donate or volunteer can go to this website to learn how best to help people impacted by the Boulder County fires.
Salvation Army
The Salvation Army is providing 1,000 meals three times a day to evacuees and first responders. Meals will be transported to the Lafayette YMCA. A donation link is now available here.
American Red Cross
The American Red Cross of Colorado has opened an evacuation center at the YMCA of Northern Colorado to support evacuees. To support the Red Cross, visit redcross.org.
Bill Hudson began sharing his opinions in the Pagosa Daily Post in 2004 and can’t seem to break the habit. He claims that, in Pagosa Springs, opinions are like pickup trucks: everybody has one.