Dec. 29—Two years after the Marshall Fire destroyed more than 1,000 homes in Louisville, Superior and unincorporated Boulder County, organizations and local governments are recognizing and celebrating ongoing recovery efforts — but are aware of the long road ahead.

As of late Thursday, Louisville reported that 550 properties were destroyed and 128 certificates of occupancy issued. In Superior, it’s reported that 396 properties were destroyed and 157 certificates of occupancy have been issued. According to the Boulder County rebuilding dashboard, unincorporated Boulder County reports 157 homes destroyed and 18 certificates of occupancy issued. The dashboards are updated daily.

According to Louisville, Superior and Boulder County recovery dashboards, 588 new building permits have been issued, in the wake of the historic blaze that was fueled by unusually arid winter conditions and wind gusts topped out at 115 mph.

The Dec. 30, 2021 inferno was the most damaging wildfire in Colorado history, in terms of property damage.

According to a Boulder County Community Foundation Wildfire Two Year report, the national average for homes rebuilt after a wildfire is 25% after five years, but the report states 26% of homes have been rebuilt just two years after the Marshall Fire.

Jeri Curry, Marshall Restoring Our Community executive director, said while the speedy recovery should be celebrated and acknowledged, it is important to continue supporting displaced residents whose recovery progress has been halted.

“Just because someone (has a rebuilding permit), does not mean that they are not struggling financially to make that build happen,” Curry said.

The rebuilding process, she added, is complex and looks different for everyone.

‘We’re going to do this’

Tatiana Hernandez, CEO of the Community Foundation Boulder County, said Boulder County is recovering at a faster rate than the national average due to many resources being available to survivors, financial assistance and social cohesion of the community

Hernandez said in the days following the fire, the foundation raised $43 million dollars from 82,000 donations to help support the immediate, short- and long-term needs of the survivors.

“Not only were residents putting their arms around each other and saying ‘We’re going to do this, and we’re doing it together,’ every municipality did the same thing,” Hernandez said.

“The goal is to get people home,” Hernandez said, and the Community Foundation, municipalities and many other organizations have helped to streamline the process of rebuilding and help finance the rebuilding process as well.”

Curry noted Louisville and Superior have helped Marshall Fire survivors tremendously — through rebates, incentives, building code opt-outs, use tax exemptions and more. She applauds the municipalities for their hard work, but she also wants local governments to help residents who are stuck in the rebuilding process.

Superior Mayor Mark Lacis said the town’s role in the recovery process was centered around getting residents back home as quickly as possible. The town tried to make the rebuilding process as financially accessible as possible, he said..

Superior offers a rebate for its town use tax, and building permit and plan review fees. According to the Superior website, $2.97 million has been given out in rebates.

Superior Mayor pro tem Neal Shah said the Board of Trustees would like to see all residents come back to Superior and wanted to ensure the town was not hindering the process. Superior has streamlined permitting and worked to shorten staff response time, to prioritize recovery .

“One of the things that we realized is that speed was everything,” Shah said. “From a government perspective, we knew we wanted to make decisions quickly, so that those that had to rebuild didn’t have any uncertainty with respect to the government nature of rebuilding. They have enough of their own issues — whether it was insurance, or ability to pay for reconstruction.”

Lacis added that having homes rebuilt to the 2018 building code standards helps residents save money, as more energy-efficient buildings often mean more expensive building materials.

Lacis said that approximately 75% of Superior homeowners who lost their homes in the fire will rebuild and return to the town in 2024. However, the town is contacting the remaining 25% to learn their recovery plan and help them in the process.

“Even though we are ahead of the national average, that doesn’t mean a lot to the folks who are stuck,” Shah said.

Helping those ‘left behind’

Louisville City Manager Jeff Durbin said the dashboard reporting the rebuild effort gets updated daily and he expects the number of certificates of occupancy to increase dramatically over the next few months. Durbin added that on Dec. 19, the City Council voted to allow homes destroyed by the fire and also homes damaged by fire the ability to opt-out of the 2021 building codes and be exempt from city use tax. He said these efforts are a step in the right direction, but the city is still looking at how to help those “left behind.”

Kiana Freeman, recovery and resilience manager, said Louisville is starting to work on measures and programs to help support affected homeowners.

“We really want to identify, for those who haven’t started the rebuilding process, how can we support them?” Freeman said.

Freeman explained there are a variety of rebates and financial incentives for residents rebuilding, but some are unaware of these assistance programs. Freeman said the city will make more efforts in 2024 to communicate the assistance programs and help people with applications.

Derek Cosson, senior communications specialist, said while the statistics show a fast recovery rate, the city is aware the recovery journey is different for everyone.

“We’re gonna be here for the long haul,” Cosson said. “We know that journey looks different, and we’re gonna be there to help each household in that journey.”

The rebuilding process can also be emotionally taxing. Hernandez and Curry said the process is all-consuming.

“Healing is not a linear process at all,” Curry said.

Curry said people who moved into their rebuilt homes, are in the rebuilding process or those who are still debating rebuilding all face different kinds of emotional triggers and trauma.

The Community Foundation Boulder County has also given approximately $1.5 million for mental health resources. Growing up in Miami, Hernandez said, she has been through her “fair share of hurricanes.” She explained huge natural disasters often divide people’s lives into before and after the event.

“Even when you’re able to rebuild, even when you’re able to get back to some semblance of normalcy after a disaster like that, the event itself will linger for the rest of your life,” Hernandez said.