Colorado suburban wildfire destroyed 1270 structures—but could’ve been more

The Marshall fire northwest of Denver, Colorado ultimately destroyed or damaged 1233 homes and 37 commercial structures, local authorities reported late Thursday.

Local authorities pegged the residential damage (not necessarily insured) at $513 million, based on county assessor valuations. The value of damage to commercial property was still being calculated and damage assessment across the county continued.

The combined structures count of 1270 is up from the initial tally of 1118 as released on January 1.

Large suburban housing tracts were spared by the snowfall that eventually contained a fast-moving fire which had encroached into major subdivisions on the back of hot dry winds in excess of 100 mph. See the damages map at https://boco.org/MarshallFireDamageAssessmentMap

Total insured losses will likely come to some $1 billion, Karen Clark & Company said Wednesday in the industry’s first major estimate on the incident.

Two municipalities at the center of the blaze, Louisville and Superior, sport median home values for owner-occupied dwellings of around $580k, census data indicated.

Following the latest events, KCC now counts seven major loss-producing fires in Colorado since 2010, including the $500 million East Troublesome fire of October 2020, the $450 million Waldo Canyon Fire in 2012 and the $400 million Black Forest Fire of 2013.

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