1,000 Homes Burned, 3 Dead - Climate Change Causes Colorado Winter Wildfire

Devastating wildfires in December in Colorado. Deadly tornadoes in Kentucky in November. 

Climate change is not fading away - and post catastrophe relief payments are a band-aid, not a solution. JL 

Ari Schneider and colleagues report in the Washington Post:

The Marshall Fire erupted Thursday, spreading rapidly with the help of 100-plus mph winds. Nearly 1,000 homes were burned. Two days after a wind-fueled grass fire reduced entire neighborhoods to tangles of smoldering debris, investigators announced they were searching for three missing people, a mission complicated by several inches of snow now blanketing the region. December wildfires are unusual in Colorado; the state’s fire season typically spans from May though September. But the Denver area has seen particularly dry conditions throughout the fall, including a historic lack of snowfall.

Two days after a wind-fueled grass fire reduced entire neighborhoods to tangles of smoldering debris, investigators announced they were searching for three missing people, a mission complicated by several inches of snow now blanketing the region.

First responders initially reported no casualties in the blaze, but Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle said Saturday that two people from Superior, between Denver and Boulder, and a third from the nearby community of Marshall — two hard-hit areas — were unaccounted for. All lived in homes destroyed in the blaze and were likely killed, he added.

Deputies are planning to bring in cadaver dogs to help search through the still-hot rubble buried in eight inches of snow.

“So search and recovery efforts are hampered substantially,” Pelle said. Still, he added: “We are fortunate we don’t have a list of 100 missing people.”

The grim news came as authorities came closer to determining the full extent of the damage after the Marshall Fire erupted Thursday, spreading rapidly with the help of 100-plus mph winds. Nearly 1,000 homes were burned, leaving families grappling with the painful new reality that they will begin 2022 without their belongings or the places they call home.

“Reality kicks in when we have to find a place to stay now,” said Alex Stickelberger, who was staying with relatives after fleeing with his family.

In all, roughly 990 homes in Superior, the neighboring town of Louisville and unincorporated Boulder County burned down, officials said Saturday. On Friday, authorities said that they had counted about 500 destroyed homes but feared the final tally could be much higher.

The fire grew to more than 6,000 acres before the snow helped extinguish remaining flames.

“The snow is an awesome thing for fire behavior, and it’s a hard thing for crime scenes and recovery efforts and damage assessments and all those things,” Pelle said. “So it’s a mixed blessing.”

‘Total devastation’ after wildfire charges through Colorado towns

Residents of still-standing homes are being allowed to return gradually, but Clint Folsom, the mayor of Superior, said many face yet another challenge: The natural gas that powers their furnaces is still offline, possibly leaving people without heat as temperatures dip into the single digits. Gas was being slowly restored early Saturday afternoon, and volunteers were distributing electric space heaters to keep residents from freezing.

In the neighboring city of Lafayette, the YMCA is serving as a shelter for those displaced and a hub for donations. It was bustling on Saturday as Red Cross workers carried bottled water and other supplies through crowded corridors and into gymnasiums lined with cots. Those who lost homes paced the room. Others waited for permission to return to the homes that were spared, unsure when they’d be allowed back or what they’d find.

Michelle Tegeder was at the shelter hoping to help after fleeing her home in Louisville on Thursday. The Verizon worker, who usually works remotely, said her home is fine, but some friends weren’t as lucky. She was staying in a hotel room with her college-aged son while waiting for authorities to reopen the roads leading back home.

“I’m just glad I grabbed my work laptop on my way out,” she said.

The blaze broke out at the tail end of a year of devastating wildfires in the West. In Colorado, four of the state’s five largest fires have occurred since 2018, according to state records.

December wildfires are unusual in Colorado; the state’s fire season typically spans from May though September. But the Denver area has seen particularly dry conditions throughout the fall, including a historic lack of snowfall. Authorities are still investigating what sparked the blaze, initially stating that downed power lines were the likely culprit. They later stated that investigators had been unable to confirm the presence of any fallen lines.

Officials said Saturday they had executed a search warrant on a property but declined to provide any further details about the probe.

As leaders struggled to take stock of the destruction, stories of devastating loss and miraculous narrow misses continued to emerge.

Mark Smith, a coach for the University of Colorado football team, said on Twitter that his family lost everything: “Our home, cars, and everything we had in our home.”

Laura Scherer, a professor at the university, shared a photograph of her neighborhood — everything leveled but her house. “I can’t tell if these tears are happy tears for us or sad tears for our neighbors,” she wrote.

Stickelberger and his family were among those contemplating starting a new year with little more than the clothes on their backs.

A former volunteer firefighter, he initially stayed behind at his home in Superior while his wife and two children drove to a safer location. He raked leaves and tumbleweeds away and used a hose to douse little fires. But then the wind turned abruptly and a nearby roof, playground and a neighbor’s motorcycle were engulfed in flames.

With smoke surrounding him, Stickelberger strapped on a pair of ski goggles and fled his home on foot, leaving all of his belongings behind. He said a stranger picked him up about a half-mile away.

On Saturday, he said he and his family had purchased some clothes and essentials with the help of some donations but had been unable to see what might be left of their home. News reports indicated to him that his neighborhood had been leveled. He has been trying to provide comfort to his children, ages 4 and 8.

“They saw the smoke coming, and when they left, they were scared,” he said.