Wildfires

In September 2020, the Almeda Fire destroyed nearly 2,600 homes in southern Oregon and killed three people. Like Colorado’s Marshall Fire, it was the most destructive in state history. We speak with Phoenix, Oregon city manager Eric Swanson to hear how his city’s fire experience could inform recovery efforts in Louisville and Superior.

After a summer that saw lawmakers from both parties work together to advance a plan to spend hundreds of millions of coronavirus relief dollars on affordable housing and mental health initiatives, it did not take long for the day to devolve into partisan bickering that is common in the Capitol.

In the aftermath of the Marshall Fire, many experts contend that urban and suburban neighborhoods are vulnerable as the climate grows warmer. We hear from Jennifer Balch, a fire scientist at the University of Colorado Boulder, about what made the fire such a catastrophic event, and how communities should plan for more fires in the future.

The Marshall Fire was, in many ways, precipitated by a perfect storm of climate threats we’ve experienced for decades in our region, primarily extreme drought we’ve seen since 2000. For many climate researchers, watching dramatic disasters like the Marshall Fire unfold reveals the effects of climate change in real time.

The recent Marshall Fire leveled some homes to the ground, leaving many others intact but uninhabitable due to smoke and ash. In some cases, the damage is so severe that moving back any time soon seems impossible.

Retired elementary school teacher Laura Nasiatka didn't have enough time to grab her social security card and other important documents before she fled the Marshall Fire in Louisville.

President Joe Biden set out Friday to comfort Colorado residents grappling with rebuilding homes and businesses that were destroyed last week by a rare wind-whipped, winter fire that burned through a pair of heavily populated suburbs between Denver and Boulder.

Updated at 5:11 p.m. — Investigators looking for one of two people missing after a destructive Colorado wildfire have found partial human remains in an area near the suspected origin of the blaze. The Boulder County Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday investigators located the partial remains of an adult in the Marshall area south of Boulder. Authorities are conducting a separate search for a person reported missing in the hard-hit community of Superior.

Many students and their families in the Boulder Valley School District are dealing with the aftermath of the Marshall Fire. The district plans to reopen schools on Wednesday following their winter break, less than a week from the start of the disastrous event. Their focus will not be on academics, but on supporting students living in the affected communities.

The wildland-urban interface — where structures built by people meet undeveloped wildland prone to fire — has always been the foothills along the Front Range. But Thursday's fire sparked next to thousands of houses that have sprouted up on the east side of the Rockies since the 1990s, said Jennifer Balch, a fire scientist with the University of Colorado Boulder.