Marshall Fire in Superior CO

[MrPrena]

Some high end home had outdoor roof sprinkler system. We cannot have those since it will freeze up.

At this level of fire even N2 or Co2 system cannot prevent from burning down.

I saw the costco, pets mart, chuck e cheese etc and their structures were okay.

[Seamonkey]

No one thinks when they leave the house that morning it was for the last time.
Appreciate what you have when you have it.
Bug out plan isn't just for zombies.
When I was looking for a gun safe I was advised to buy the largest/best fire rating I could afford. Several family members have had to evacuate their homes over the years, being able to toss stuff in the safe and walk out was an emotional help on them.

I realize I'm not in easy commuting distance but I've got the space to store stuff and animals if people need.

[.455_Hunter]

I don't think is a moveable gun safe on the retail market designed to withstand the complete house combustion scenario seen in these events.

[00tec]

I don't think is a moveable gun safe on the retail market designed to withstand the complete house combustion scenario seen in these events.

My wife and I had that conversation yesterday. We determined that there is no way our safe would survive what we saw out there. 3k Sq ft homes burned down to their slabs in minutes. That's some extreme heat.

[Vic Tory]

No one thinks when they leave the house that morning it was for the last time.
Appreciate what you have when you have it.
Bug out plan isn't just for zombies.
When I was looking for a gun safe I was advised to buy the largest/best fire rating I could afford. Several family members have had to evacuate their homes over the years, being able to toss stuff in the safe and walk out was an emotional help on them.

WORD TO THE WISE: Many many homeowners have learned "fire proof" safes don't mean HEAT PROOF. Too many folks returned after the Black Forest fire ... opened their fire proof safes ... and found globs of melted polymer with steel components sticking out of them.

Wildfires are absolutely shocking.

I drove my girlfriend (now wife) back to her home in Trout Creek the day Hwy 67 opened after the Hayman Fire. I think they had been evacuated for 4 weeks or something. (There was another fire that had them evacuated the week before too. Only got back to their house for a couple days before they had to evac for Hayman).

I lived in Castle Rock. Hayman was so close it was "snowing" ash on our house ... but the winds just barely kept it away. We were on-notice that we might be evacuated, and were not....

We moved to a property 1/2 mile south of the Black Forest Fire's damage after THAT fire. The previous owners didn't mitigate for way too many years. So I've been thinning trees on the property for seven years.

The Fire Station is 1/2 mile from me. I asked the Chief what makes him try to save a property. With zero hesitation he answered, "If I can get my people and my equipment in and out safely."

I immediately got to work. Seven years ago he'd have let my house burn...!

In any case, the scene will forever be in my mind. It's was absolutely surreal. Purely apocalyptic.

Being just south of the Black Forest Fire, we still drive through whole neighborhoods which look like ... moonscapes.

Praying for the folks in Superior and Louisville. What they are going through is extremely hard and will be with them forever. Even more so because of the speed that this happened. They didn't have time to prepare themselves emotionally like folks had in many of the large fires in the past.

AMEN!

[Hummer]

The Sheriff's press conference today is on the Boulder OEM page. Loss estimates reported are 553 homes destroyed and 45 damaged in Louisville; in Superior 332 homes destroyed and 60 damaged; in unincorporated county (from Marshall east) 106 homes destroyed, 22 damaged. Total of 991 destroyed, 127 damaged.

Three persons are unaccounted for and may be found as casualties when conditions allow search of their homes; 2 in Superior and 1 in the Marshall area.

[MrPrena]

As for insurance questions goes (for people who got affected).

I know some insurance company only covers rebuilding (my insurance at amfam) vs purchasing a new home.

Also how does ALE works?

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/a..._insurance.asp


Fire and casulty guys, please elaborate. 🙏

[HoneyBadger]

I helped "clean up" two of my co-workers' homes in Black forest about a week after the fire. It was absolutely heartbreaking.... Both of their homes looked like the ones in the video above - just a foundation with 1-2ft of ash and a bunch of twisted metal from ductwork and pipes, with the occasional appliance (hot water heaters, dishwashers, laundry) still somewhat intact. One of them had a Liberty Fatboy (48 gun?) safe in his basement and all his guns were a total loss. He had some family antique silverware (pure silver) in the safe and they were heavily deformed and ruined, but not completely melted, so the inside of his safe got HOT. (FYSA, the melt point of silver is like 1800 degrees) The safe looked more or less okay on the outside - just charred. The problem wasn't the extreme temps - it was the length of time it was exposed to the temps. In the Black Forest fire, many of the homes collapsed in on themselves and continued to burn and smolder at 1500+ degrees for 3-4 days...... no gun safe is going to be able to resist that much consistent heat. One of the Insurance guys we talked to said that he saw a few gunsafes survive with their cargo intact - and they were all positioned close to exterior walls (not in the basement) where the walls burned around them, but the heat source was gone in a relatively short amount of time. He (the insurance claims guy) also said placement near exterior walls is also good for regular housefires because firefighters can more successfully get water to that area to control the temp. Not sure if that matches anyone else's experiences, but it makes sense to me.

Our house was about 1/2 mile south of the fire, just across a small bit of grass from the Black Forest - we were really smoky, but saw no damage. We were very blessed.

ETA: It's probably a good idea to change out your HVAC filters right away if you had a lot of smoke or ash in or around your house.

[HoneyBadger]

One important thing to add:

If you or your loved ones are involved in cleaning up the remains of people's property, make sure you all have properly fitting and adequate respirators and other PPE! Lots of things release really nasty stuff when they burn, especially a lot of household chemicals and materials - much of which is associated with lung cancer later in life.

[MrPrena]

^ I agree. An industrial ones, not those home made covid 19 cotton mask junk.

However
Let them have freedom to inhale low molar house hold chlorine and ammonia vapor.