Not sure if we have anyone here who’s in the affected areas, which right now look to be largely SE of Boulder. I know Doctor No hails from the Boulder area, but he’s not registered here; hopefully he’s unaffected.
Going to be lots of damage just based on what’s already reported (580 homes, and there’s definitely fire-damaged areas not counted in that). My company won’t have exposure, we don’t write there. My 2 immediately past employers just recently expanded there in the last year or two, and that area was somewhere they really wanted to target because of new construction and potential future opportunities as those areas grow. Oops!
A friend and former colleague lives in Louisville, CO. She started packing things into her car when she lost power, and then she got a call from the 911 service telling her to evacuate. She said there was a lot of smoke and some ash in her house.
She has a place to stay but doesn’t know if her home is in harm’s way.
I saw a story that said winds >100mph were fanning the flames. Snow is in the forecast, maybe if the wind stops and the snow starts things will make a turn for the better.
My 23 yo daughter recently moved to Denver and was driving to Boulder on 36 and had exited in Superior because of all the smoke and lack of visibility. Using Life360 and Google Maps traffic conditions, I got her out of the area safely.
Best wishes to everyone affected. A lot of homes have been lost.
I have family in Westminster (on the edge of Westminster and Broomfield) so I was following closely yesterday.
The fires spread so quickly due to unusually dry conditions and very high winds. Sustained winds in Boulder were over 40mph for a while yesterday, and there were gusts recorded in the area (Jefferson County) over 100mph.
They are under a winter storm warning today with 5-10" of snow expected.
I would say “maybe this will trigger a discussion of how closely we should be building to woodlands and grasslands that tend to catch fire and then get wind-whipped, leading to large fires” but based on history, we’ll double down and build twice as much in those areas as if this was a one-off and it will never happen again.
And it also goes without saying that everyone wants all their losses paid, in full, and no premium increases to reflect that fact that everyone now realizes oh shit, there’s wildfires out there.