Tara and Tom Stosek returned to Beulah last Thursday to pick through the charred ruins of the mountain oasis where they’d raised a family, and to finish flash-processing a lifetime’s worth of loss.

In less than 24 hours, volunteers with Christian Aid Ministries Rapid Response Team were scheduled to begin demolishing what remained of their “HGTV-like dream home” with the Jim Bishop-designed spiral metal staircase and artistic elements at every glance. The views, the history, all those memories.

“You were a good house. We had a good life here,” said Tara, gazing over the acrid and soot-slicked rubble of what once was the family room. “We thought since the roof was metal, we’d be OK. We thought storing our important items in a basement room with concrete walls would keep them safe. …”

For the Stoseks, the uncertainty of “what’s next” after the Aspen Acres fire is at an end. After weeks staying with family as they weighed options, finances, and then began house-hunting, the couple purchased a townhouse in Pueblo. The new address is in a good location, close to amenities, and family. 

It’s “perfect, really,” Tara said. 

Just not the kind of perfect they had in Beulah, before the fire. 

Ignited in the early morning hours of June 29 and quickly whipped into an inferno by gale-force winds, the still-active Aspen Acres wildfire has destroyed more than 102,000 acres and almost 900 buildings, 319 of which were dwellings. As of Friday, it was at 77% containment and, according to authorities, burning in areas far removed from communities and threats to homes and buildings. 

At its peak, however, the fire forced more than 6,000 people to flee their homes under mandatory evacuation orders.

Six weeks later, they’ve all been given leave to return. 

Some, like the Stoseks, only to salvage the few things they could. And say goodbye.

Waiting in an inestimable limbo

The cost for Aspen Acres firefighting crews and the resources to support them is estimated to reach $120 million, according to an early August update from Custer County Sheriff Rich Smith. 

A disaster emergency declaration by Gov. Jared Polis unlocked state money, and a Fire Management Assistance Grant from FEMA was approved to reimburse 75% of eligible state firefighting and control costs.

Private property, though, isn’t covered by any kind of state or federal disaster assistance funding. 

Such losses are a personal burden, a negotiation between property owners and insurance companies, assuming that relationship exists. Those big-picture numbers are still being tallied by the Colorado Division of Insurance, part of the state’s Department of Regulatory Agencies. 

While the Aspen Acres fire continues to burn, and headlines cool, hundreds of Colorado residents remain in an inestimable limbo, knowing full well that – insured or not – getting back to where they were, if such a thing is even possible, will cost much more than it did when they first arrived.

Pueblo native and real-estate agent Casey Edwards has worked with a number of displaced homeowners in the wake of Colorado wildfires, including Waldo Canyon. 

In many ways, Aspen Acres is a different monster from both a property, and human, perspective, he said.

“I’ve been in real estate since 2003, and have seen lots of different markets and lots of different scenarios,” said Edwards, the broker/owner at Re/Max Pueblo. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”

Unburned homes in the middle of the burn scar

If asked to describe southwest Pueblo County to a prospective home buyer, pre-Aspen Acres fire, Edwards said he’d call it semi-remote communities of “custom properties and historic homes … with access to trails, animals, camping and hiking, and rivers and creeks.” 

Remote and bucolic, but close enough.

“A completely different feel from Pueblo just 30 minutes away,” said Edwards, who grew up camping with his family in Beulah and Rye.

Many of the homes lost in the Aspen Acres fire were one-of-a-kind properties whose value had skyrocketed over the years, under owners who purchased during more affordable times. Many had lived there for decades, or longer, and had paid off their mortgages – a fact that cleared the way for some (including the Stoseks) to forego skyrocketing homeowners insurance in a state that now stands as one of the nation’s most expensive for such coverage.

Homeowners whose properties were surrounded by fire, but miraculously spared by flames, didn’t escape unscathed. Edwards said several of the clients he’s working with were on the cusp of listing their properties when the fire swept through.

“What are they going to do with their properties now?” Edwards said. “They didn’t burn, but they’re in the middle of this scar. So what’s the value of it now, and how can you sell it when this has just happened?”

Options, but nothing felt like ‘home’

For homeowners who lost their homes and already have decided to relocate (about a 50/50 split with those saying they’ll rebuild, based on Edwards’ and his teams’ conversations), the Aspen Acres fire introduced prospective buyers to a market with plenty of options, but likely nothing that felt like “home.”

“We have inventory, but, you know, that doesn’t mean that the perfect thing is out there, especially after having a lot that was so special, and views and space … and then now we’re looking at Pueblo West, which is nice but nothing comparable to that,” Edwards said.

Many of the families and individuals displaced by the fire nonetheless found themselves in that nearby city, at least on a temporary basis.

“Most people I’ve talked to are staying with family if they have family in the area. They’re staying with friends or in a friends’ basement, you know?” he said. “But then there’s lots of people renting,” he said, bringing a noticeable tightening of an already tight rental market.

“My company manages 900 doors, and our vacancy rate is less than 5% right now because everybody’s applying to have somewhere to live,” Edwards said. “Not everyone is ready to buy.”

For many, it may not be an option. Insurance claims were taking longer to settle even before the most recent natural disasters.

“In an ideal world, an insurance company should be able to get out to your house, document the damage and cut you a check within 30 days,” said Anthony M. Lopez, founder and managing partner of Your Insurance Attorney, which represents clients nationwide in their legal battles with insurance companies, and has an office in Colorado Springs. “I would venture to say the average is closer to 90 days … and then the insurance company underpays your claim, which we see very, very often.”

Living in ‘Casita de Bawk Bawk’

For others, such decisions can wait. 

Living in a community that’s there when you really need them makes staying possible, even when almost everything was lost, said Jean Parks, during a late morning visit Thursday to the Beulah Community Center, a repurposed meeting hall that since the fire has served as a resource center, with food, clothing and access to an array of assistance. 

Parks said she stayed at her Beulah home up until the last minute, finally abandoning everything she owned, save the clothes on her back, “two T-shirts, a pair of pants and shoes,” ahead of the flames. 

“Everything that was insured didn’t burn,” she said, with a wry laugh. “I know I was luckier than some.”

She’s now living in a finely refurbished former chicken coop, owned by a friend and neighbor (seems like everyone in Beulah is a friend and neighbor). She doesn’t know how long she’ll be there, or what’s next.

But for now, Parks said, it’s “‘Casita de Bawk Bawk.”

And it’s a good home.

For updates, additional information, or to support the Southern Colorado Wildfire Relief Fund, please visit unitedwaysoco.org/emergencyinfo