FORBES PARK, Colo. (CN) – The third largest wildfire in Colorado history devastated Forbes Park, a small gated community in rural Costilla County populated by retirees and vacationers. Two weeks later, Team Rubicon, a veteran-run nonprofit response team remained on the ground to clear charred century-old trees off dirt roads so residents can start putting their lives back together.
Operations section chief Mark Ambrose reminded volunteers that elderly and veteran residents were their first priority, followed by anyone else who seemed vulnerable.
“(There was another) one earlier today,” Ambrose recalled. “She’s not elderly, but she’s like a 27-year-old gal, and she’s still living in her fucking car. She’s a glassblower, had everything she’s ever had out there. She’s single, alone, fucking scared. No insurance, nothing. I want her as a priority too.”
The wildfire ignited June 27 by unsupervised campfire. Jesper Joergensen, a 52-year-old Danish citizen with an expired visa who was camping out in Costilla County, has been charged with 114 counts of arson – a count for each home destroyed in the fire. At first Joergensen told authorities he was burning trash, but later insisted he had been grilling.
Stirred up by wind and encouraged by single-digit humidity, the flames ignited drought-dried juniper, sage, Gambel oak and Ponderosa pine. Within a week, the spark grew into an 108,000-acre inferno. As it spread northeast of Fort Garland, the Spring Creek Fire destroyed 225 homes and caused some $32 million in damage.
At one point, 1,400 firefighters, 99 engines and eight helicopters worked in two different teams to contain the flames.
“People are going to be feeling this for 15, 20 years. Folks who thought they would sell their homes in a year or two, now they can’t,” Ambrose said, maneuvering his heavy-duty Ford pickup past a cleared lot. “This is a life-changing event.”
FEMA stepped in to cover 75 percent of Costilla County’s firefighting costs. The Colorado Farm Bureau donated $20,000 to victims.
And Team Rubicon gave 2,844 volunteer hours to Forbes Park, Wagon Creek and Paradise Acres, clearing 2,000 trees, and leaving a $75,000 impact.
Now more than 90 percent contained, the fire has moved northeast and will eventually burn itself out in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. But while the fire has passed, the problems have just begun for residents.
Flames melted windows into glass waterfalls that pooled and hardened over the remains of wood stoves. Patio furniture twisted into modern art and tool boxes melted into metallic bars.
Some homes survived unscathed. Others have only fireplace and chimney left standing, as unstable as the charred trees.
The one house Ambrose can’t get out of his mind faces west, right off the main road and across an alpine meadow. While the flames flattened the entire 1,500 square foot home, two yellow chairs on the back porch remained untouched.
“There’s nothing left but the two chairs facing out back," Ambrose said. "It’s like their little slice of heaven, and it’s gone.”
Ambrose enlisted in the Army in 2005, and for 10 years worked his way up from mechanic to maintenance manager.
Portions of the blackened forest between wrecked homes remind Ambrose of being deployed in the Middle East.