Kelli Krom and her husband spent Saturday morning surveying what’s left of the two-bedroom house they bought in Forbes Park three years ago.
What the Kroms saw as they walked around the blackened landscape was the twisted remains of their tractor, the “carcass” of their four-wheeler and the ash-filled foundation of what — just two weeks ago — was the place they called home.
One of the only discernible things left was a small, painted cement statue of an eagle that Krom’s mother gave them years ago.
“Everything around it burned, but there wasn’t a mark on that eagle,” Krom said holding back tears.
Her mom passed in 2014, and the eagle is one of the few things she kept as a memento.
She couldn’t believe it was sitting there untouched looking “as proud as he could be;” a vibrant spot in an otherwise burnt landscape.
The Spring Creek Fire ripped through neighborhoods in Costlila and Heurfano counties during the past 10 days. It has burned nearly 107,000 acres, destroyed at least 132 homes and displaced thousands of people.
Despite all of that, Krom managed to talk about the positives in her life.
Her dogs and husband are safe. She’s no longer waiting on news about her home. And soon she’ll have a comfortable place to stay. Friends from Iowa are driving their travel trailer to Colorado for the Kroms to use “as long as we need it.”
She also remembered to grab their wedding picture before evacuating.
Forbes Park is the only neighborhood where homeowners have returned. Delta County Emergency Management Director Jeff Wright said they have no immediate plans to open other neighborhoods.
In fact, the people who saw intact homes Saturday morning didn’t get to stay. Officials opened the neighborhood for only four hours.
“Was it safe the whole time? Maybe not,” Wright said. “We know this has been weighing on their hearts. We wanted to give them a little bit of closure.”
Wright couldn’t say when the Forbes Park area — or any of the neighborhoods affected by the fire — would be livable again.
A lot depends on when firefighters stop the fire’s progress. It was at 43 percent containment Saturday afternoon.
Bill Werner, a disaster program manager with the American Red Cross of Colorado, said he plans to keep the shelter at the Fort Garland Community Center open until he’s told to close it.
He’s also working with local rental companies to find places for people who might need six months or a year to rebuild. He thinks a lot of locals will likely end up living in Alamosa for a while. Or they could end up living in a neighbor’s house.
People with vacation homes are offering to let their neighbors use their houses.
“We’re trying to match those people up where we can,” Werner said. “We’re kind of like Match.com.”
Forest and Peggy Harrell don’t have a vacation home left to offer.
The Texas couple’s cabin was a total loss.
They plan to head back to Texas this weekend and keep their land for a few years in the hopes the terrain recovers some of its former beauty.
The couple said it’s hard not to be angry at the man who officials believe started the fire while cooking or burning trash in his backyard. The Harrells are firefighters in a suburb just outside of Dallas, and they think people often don’t appreciate how quickly a fire can spread until they’ve seen it in person.
“It’s bound to happen again somewhere,” Forest Harrell said. “Somebody, somewhere else won’t heed the warning.”
