“That’s where my soul is”
East Troublesome fire brought anxiety and destruction
GRAND LAKE » The fog hugged this mountain community Wednesday morning, thick as the smoke that rushed through town just a week before, forcing longtime residents and second- home owners to grab old pictures and guitars, baby blankets and bottles of rum as they bolted south on U. S. 34 — the orange glow of the East Troublesome fire creeping menacingly over the ridge.
But as the fog lifted, a clear blue sky opened up, the sun shimmering on the lake, warming the nearly empty downtown strip. Slowly, those who had made their way back to Grand Lake headed to the Sagebrush BBQ and Grill in the center of town.
It was the only place open for a bite or a stiff drink Wednesday. Old friends embraced — never mind social distancing — as they shared photos of barns that no longer exist and stories of frantic escapes. They laughed and commiserated, asked about loved ones and speculated about houses they can’t access.
Groups of people huddled around the
fire map near the restrooms, pointing to the black lines that show containment, but don’t show everything that was lost to a wildfire that burned 6,000 acres an hour as it grew into the second- largest wildfire in Colorado history, destroying at least 100 homes. A fortuitous winter snowstorm finally dampened the fire’s growth, although it’s still burning 193,774 acres through Grand County and Rocky Mountain National Park.
“There are so many people in this town whose hearts are invested here,” said David Anderson, a resident since 1956. His parents’ ashes are sprinkled in the east inlet down the road. Same for every dog he’s ever buried. Grand Lake is where he got his first guitar, his first girlfriend, his first dog.
“That’s where my soul is,” he said.
“We assumed it was going to hit the town”
Lt. Jarred Nelson fell in love with the area after coming up here to hunt and fish a couple times a year before joining the Grand Lake Fire Protection District six years ago.
He’s a third- generation firefighter and, like most of his crew, has been working practically nonstop since Oct. 21, when the East Troublesome fire exploded by nearly 150,000 acres in less than two days.
Nelson and others were six miles north of town, helping evacuate people from their homes, when the fire made its push.
“Five or ten minutes longer and the fire would have burnt over us,” Nelson said.
On Wednesday, Nelson and two other firefighters drove north of Grand Lake to the west entrance of Rocky Mountain National Park to scope the damage. They stopped near the Grand Lake Lodge, the iconic century- old hotel perched on a ridge overlooking the Grand and Shadow Mountain lakes, surrounded by snowcapped mountains.
The lookout was the first place the fire chief took Brice Carey after the 18year- old moved here from Oklahoma just after graduating high school.
“We assumed it was going to hit the town,” Nelson said. Fortunately, the winds blew the fire a different direction and it never ran down the mountainside.
Blackened pines dotted the landscape as the firefighters drove past the Kawuneeche Visitor Center and Winding River Resort. Small plumes of smoke drifted up from hot spots still burning beneath 10 inches of snow that helped quiet the fire Sunday.
“This used to be beautiful,” Carey said quietly.
The beetle- kill made these trees a “ticking time bomb,” Nelson said, “but we couldn’t have anticipated this.”
Some level of forest fires are a natural element of Mother Nature, he said. But the speed and intensity of these recent fires are just incinerating anything in its path. Nelson said his team found dead bears, elk and deer. People in the area have been seeing dead fish, who could not survive the hot water.
For two Grand County firefighters and six other first responders in the area, the East Troublesome fire impacted more than just their jobs. Blake Shannon and his family moved up from Littleton five years ago to take advantage of the plentiful hunting and fishing and found the mountain living to be much more their speed.
As the fire rapidly approached Wednesday, Shannon could feel the heat and wind pick up. Houses nearby were up in flames when the family finally left the property.
“I gave my family hugs and told them I was going to work,” he said.
Shannon, 19, shut out the piece of his mind that knew his house was likely gone and entered a chaotic evacuation scene in Grand Lake as electrical poles exploded around them.
When he went back to his home days later, it “looked like a nuke went off,” Shannon said. A garage and shed stood mostly intact. The family is in Granby now, trying to figure out what’s next.
“Every day it becomes more real that I don’t have a home to go back to,” Shannon said.
A second Grand Lake firefighter, Kevin Piercy, also lost his home in the fire, in addition to six other first responders.
A GoFundMe account set up by the assistant fire chief’s wife, Ellie St. Germain, has raised more than $ 245,000 since its launch Sunday.
“Everyone’s family there,” Shannon said. “We all take care of each other.”
Returning to Grand Lake
As soon as 4 p. m. hit on Monday, Anderson raced back up here from the Evergreen motel he had been living in since he evacuated last week.
“I didn’t know what to expect,” he said outside the Sagebrush restaurant, his dog Abbey looking longingly at a pulled pork sandwich.
The fire came right up to his doorstep, Anderson believes, but never reached the house. He still hasn’t been back, though, instead checking on homes he worked on as a contractor that are still accessible. He plans to donate his extra supplies to anyone who needs help rebuilding.
“The motto is: What can I do to help?” Anderson said.
Erica Becker and her daughter drove up Wednesday from their home in Denver to check on the vacation house Becker’s mother bought 15 years ago.
Becker forced her daughter Paige to drive because she was on the verge of tears, anxious about what they were going to see.
“Oh, my God, it’s still standing!” Becker recalled saying as she approached the house. “I knew it was still there, but until I saw it, I couldn’t be sure.”
Inside the Sagebrush, Vylliana Jattan scurried to bring drinks and food to a growing number of customers. She moved to Grand Lake in August from Florida — trading hurricanes for fires.
She was washing the dishes last week when firefighters showed up to the bar, urging her to drop the dishes to save her life.
“Between COVID and the fires, I think Colorado is trying to kill me,” Jattan said with a smile. “But I’m resilient.”
Ian Carr, the Sagebrush’s manager, stood nearby, attending to other customers. After people were allowed back in town, he took stock of what it would take to reopen the restaurant. All the fruits and veggies had to go, and all the shipments stopped when the fire erupted last week. But the steaks and fish were in good shape, so it was time to reopen.
“Normalcy is kind of what we’re hoping to provide,” he said.
As the afternoon wore on, more and more people stopped by the restaurant, with big “How’s the house?” greetings an inevitable opener.
Inside, members of the Colorado National Guard enjoyed a rare day off with some barbecue, while a collection of people looked at photos on each other’s phones near a picnic table, puffing on cigarettes as they traded stories about insurance companies.
Community members planned a big fundraiser on Friday, where Anderson will play lead guitar.
“It’s like family up here,” Becker said.