Biden visits site of Colorado fire
President comforts residents who lost homes, businesses
LOUISVILLE, Colo. — Offering hugs and humor, President Joe Biden comforted Coloradans grappling with rebuilding the 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.
One victim was identified Friday and one person remained unaccounted for out of some 35,000 forced from their homes.
Biden and his wife, Jill, arrived in the Harper Lake neighborhood of Louisville on Friday afternoon to survey the damage, passing the burned remnants of homes next to still-standing damaged structures. They walked along a street where homes burned to their concrete foundations, meeting residents and local officials who have been overseeing the response and recovery operation.
Before departing the White House, Biden described the destruction as “god-awful.”
The fire broke out unusually late in December after months of drought with a dry fall and a winter with hardly any snow. It fed on bone-dry grassland surrounding fast-growing development in the area near the Rocky Mountain foothills.
Nearly 1,100 buildings, most of them homes, were destroyed, causing an estimated $513 million in damage.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation. Investigators have narrowed their search to an area near Boulder where a passerby captured video of a burning shed Dec. 30, when the fire began. But it could still take authorities weeks to figure out how it started.
In addition to homes, the blaze burned through eight businesses in Louisville and neighboring Superior. Federal, state and local agencies and nonprofits have been offering housing assistance, counseling, food, stipends and other aid to residents.
Traveling with the president on Air Force One to Colorado were the state’s two U.S. senators, two members of Congress from the affected area and Administrator Deanne Criswell of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. In Colorado, he met Gov. Jared Polis, Louisville Mayor Ashley Stolzmann, Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle and Louisville Fire Protection District Chief John Wilson, in addition to residents and first responders.
Stacy Moore stood in her backyard Friday afternoon surveying the remains of the home she’d lived in since the 1990s. She had been drawn to the area because it was supposed to be free of threat from wildfires, floods or tornadoes that other parts of the state typically see.
“I thought it was perfectly safe,” she said.
“I’d like to see the federal government and our city governments and our state governments help educate people on how we can use best building practices,” she said. She’s been told her insurance will “come nowhere close” to covering the cost of rebuilding.
On Friday, authorities identified a person whose remains were found near the origin of the fire as Robert Sharpe, 69, of Boulder. His family said he was a longtime resident who worked in the construction industry for many years.
“The total devastation of this event has shocked and impacted so many in the community,” the family said in a statement thanking authorities for the intensive search for Sharpe. “Our hearts go out to the many others who have suffered losses.”
Experts say similar events will become more common as climate change warms the planet and suburbs grow in fireprone areas. Ninety percent of Boulder County is in severe or extreme drought, and it hadn’t seen substantial rainfall since mid-summer.
The fire, which spanned 9.4 square miles, ranks as the most destructive in state history.
However, disaster experts say the number of casualties is remarkably low given how fast the fire ripped through subdivisions and especially considering that a public alert system did not reach everyone. Boulder County officials said Thursday that emergency alerts were sent to more than 24,000 contacts, while some 35,000 people fled their homes.