About 20 Homes Flooded in Waldo Canyon Burn Area

from Fox21NEWS | by Fox Continuos News Desk 

MANITOU SPRINGS, COLO. (AP) -- A storm that caused flash flooding in the area burned by Colorado's Waldo Canyon Fire last year damaged about 20 homes, roughly a half dozen of them significantly.

More than a half inch of rain fell in less than 20 minutes Monday, causing mud to flow into the houses in Manitou Springs and western Colorado Springs.

To read more about flooding in the Waldo Canyon burn area you can read the full article here.

The Gazette: More Colorado Springs building permits issued in wake of fire

The Gazette in Colorado Springs reports this week that 200 homes destroyed in the Waldo Canyon fire are an track to be rebuilt.

Ryan Handy says:

"Eleven months after the fire destroyed 347 homes in Mountain Shadows, the Pikes Peak Regional Building Department has issued 176 rebuilding permits for homes in the northwest neighborhood that was ravaged by the fire on June 26.

The majority of those new permits were issued to homeowners returning to the neighborhood, but some were issued to new residents and others were given to contractors for "spec" houses, said Bob Cutter, president of Colorado Springs Together, a nonprofit fire recovery group."

Read more: http://gazette.com/more-colorado-springs-building-permits-issued-in-wake-of-fire/article/1501313

Hot market: Fire serves to reignite Westside construction, home buying

This home is just one example of how Mountain Shadows is rebounding from the Waldo Canyon fire, with Realtors able to sell homes and lots quickly, and customers happy about joining the neighborhood despite the still-visible fire scars.

The Colorado Springs Business Journal said last week that the Waldo Canyon fire has "reignited" westside construction.

"“This is the first time in a lot of years that people have been able to have new construction on the Westside,” said Dean Weissman, a Realtor with The Platinum Group. “The market over there — it’s extremely hot.”

The west side of Interstate 25 has been built out for at least 10 years, Weissman said. And most of the real estate nestled into the hillsides is more than 20 years old.

The fire destroyed a wide variety of homes in Mountain Shadows, but the average price of the burned houses was above $350,000. Some homeowners have decided to rebuild with their insurance money and stay.

Others, for emotional or financial reasons, opted to sell their lots and move on, Patterson said."

Read more: http://csbj.com/2013/05/10/hot-market-fire-serves-to-reignite-westside-construction-home-buying/ 

Honored and humbled to be part of Waldo Canyon museum exhibit

Published in The Gazette | April 26, 2013 | Written by Bill Vogrin

In The Gazette today, Bill Vogrin said that the Colorado Springs Pioneer Museum is creating an exhibit on the Waldo Canyon Fire.

"The museum is putting together an exhibit on the Waldo Canyon fire to correspond with the one-year anniversary. Called “From the Ashes: The Waldo Canyon Fire,” it debuts June 22 at the museum, 215 S. Tejon St. downtown. 

Recently, I got a sneak peek at the exhibit. I can tell you it will be a powerful display of mementos of the inferno that charred 18,247 acres, killed two people and destroyed 347 homes in Mountain Shadows as well as the cherished Old West tourist attraction Flying W Ranch.  I expect the exhibit to be a popular attraction, and not simply because it’s free."

The Waldo Canyon fire started about 4 miles northwest of Colorado Springs on June 23, 2012.  It moved into Colorado Springs, and when done had burned 346 homes in total. It was the most destructive fire in Colorado Springs history.

Gazette: Home Inventory Businesses Spring up After Waldo Canyon Fire in Mountain Shadows

Published by The Gazette | December 16 2012 | Written by Rich Laden

MARK REIS, THE GAZETTE 

Pete Vieth measures a coffee table while Carrie Mitchell enters information on a laptop while documenting items Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2012, in a home in northeast Colorado Springs. The two are owners of Together We Stand Home Inventory.

Insurance companies have warned homeowners for years: Make an accurate record of your household contents, and keep it in a safe place in case of an emergency.

The advice has taken on special meaning for Colorado Springs-area residents after the Waldo Canyon fire destroyed nearly 350 Mountain Shadows homes in late June. Some residents of the northwest side neighborhood have spent months battling insurance companies to obtain satisfactory settlements.

The amount received in such settlements hinges, in large part, on what kind of information homeowners can provide to document the value of their contents. And insurance companies want detailed proof of value, not homeowners’ misty-eyed recollections of the items they lost.

That’s why at least two home inventory companies recently were launched in Colorado Springs, part of a growing industry that offers to record and document household contents for a price. In spite of the Waldo Canyon fire’s harsh reality, and warnings from the insurance industry, assembling inventories remains one of those chores that many busy homeowners put off.

“Their intentions are there, but it’s very, very time consuming,” Carrie Mitchell, owner of Together We Stand Home Inventory and Asset Management Group, said of homeowners.
Mitchell, who owned rental properties in Manitou Springs at the time of the fire, had tenants who were evacuated from their residences; she also had friends who were evacuated and stayed at her home. She and her partner in the company, Springs businessman Pete Vieth, had friends who lost everything.

In volunteering with Colorado Springs Together, the nonprofit assistance group that formed after the fire, Mitchell and Vieth talked with several fire victims, most of whom had failed to put together home inventories. They also heard harrowing testimonials from residents who suddenly had 15 minutes to evacuate as the fire approached.

“They spent the 15 minutes snapping pictures (of household contents) and video taping in a panic,” Vieth said.

The pair researched the home inventory industry over the next few months, spent hours talking with insurance company representatives and estate planners and conducted pilot home inventories. They did their first inventory in October.

Together We Stand uses digital photography and a software program to document a home’s contents — taking photos of appliances, electronics, furniture, jewelry, firearms, antiques and coin collections, among other items, while entering detailed descriptions of each item into a computer software program. Inventories start at $349, average about $500 and the final cost depends on how time they spend at a home and how detailed a homeowner wants to get..

“What we’ve learned from the insurance industry is that values that are done based on the homeowner’s self valuation are meaningless to insurance companies,” Vieth said. “What’s important to insurance companies is the photographs, the detail and documentation.”

Read more: http://www.gazette.com/articles/companies-148508-insurance-homeowners.html#ixzz2FKSWCTIL

CSBJ: Disaster Loan Presentation for Waldo Fire Victims Set for September 28 in Colo Spgs

Published by the Colorado Springs Business Journal | September 20 2012 | Written by Monica Mendoza

Representatives from offices of Sen. Mark Udall, Sen. Michael Bennet and the U.S. Small Business Administration will be in the Springs this month to discuss disaster loans.

The representatives will be in Colorado Springs from 11 a.m. to noon Sept. 28 at the Colorado Springs Together office, 6840 Centennial Blvd.

Business owners, nonprofit organizations and residents affected by this year’s wildfires and related flooding in El Paso, Larimer and 15 adjacent counties are invited to learn more about SBA Disaster Loans, including requirements and eligibility.

The deadline to apply for loans for physical damage is Oct. 9. Homeowners and business owners have until May 7, 2013, to apply for SBA assistance for economic damage. The Colorado Springs Small Business Development Center also will participate in the presentation.

The event is free but there is limited seating. RSVP to Angela_Joslyn@markudall.senate.gov or call 471-3993 for more information.

Read this article on CSBJ: http://csbj.com/2012/09/20/disaster-loan-presentation-sept-28/comment-page-1/#comment-69498

WALDO CANYON FIRE: Governor requests more federal funds

Published in The Gazette | August 2, 2012 | Written by Ryan Maye Handy

Gov. John Hickenlooper has requested that additional federal funds be made available to El Paso County to cover more than three million dollars in damages not eligible for reimbursement under the initial declaration.

After the June 28 presidential disaster declaration, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, known as FEMA, designated funds to El Paso County to reimburse costs incurred for “Emergency Protective Measures,” such as the overtime work done by Colorado Springs firefighters, police officers and sheriff’s deputies. But the grant covers only one of seven categories of reimbursements for local governments’ disaster-recovery related projects, including repairs to damaged buildings or equipment.

The first grant, known as a Category B, covers 75 percent of all costs that fall under the “Emergency Protective Measures” umbrella. El Paso County officials have not totalled those costs, county spokesman Dave Rose said Thursday. Still, preliminary damage assesments done by FEMA and local officials estimated that $3.28 million worth of losses are not coverd by the Category B grant.

Read more: http://www.gazette.com/articles/funds-142642-federal-paso.html#ixzz22VbQOy00