Her home may have saved the neighborhood from a wildfire, but Colorado woman says she's still waiting for aid
A new health study from the University of Colorado Boulder looks into the extent of the lingering effects of the Marshall Fire. Monday marked three years since the massive blaze burned more than 1,000 homes and forced 37,000 people to evacuate in Boulder County.
The first-of-its-kind study examined the impacts of burning hundreds of homes with furniture, electronics, and cars. The University of Colorado study found that more than half of people who could return home said they had headaches and sore throats, likely due to poor air quality.
Deborah Mordecai is one of many homeowners who reported similar symptoms after her home was damaged in the fire. Mordecai lived in her Louisville home for 30 years before the fire and had one of the few homes left standing on her street the morning after. She says her fenced-in yard gave firefighters a chance to stop the spread, but now, as she watches neighbors rebuild and move back in, her house still stands damaged and empty.
"It might have been the house that saved the neighborhood, but we haven't saved my home," Mordecai said. "We built this home, and to look at it at this point, it doesn't look like the same home and all that family, all that celebration that we had, we just don't have it anymore."
She's hoping the new study helps her case as she masks up to enter her former home, which she says is still covered in ash, and deals with the lasting impacts of water damage.
"[Experts] went in and went into the walls and said, 'this stuff is all through your walls,' that they need to take it down to the studs," Mordecai said. "So even if you wipe it and paint it, it's- you're still breathing it in here."
So after 30 years, Mordecai cleaned up her things and moved out, but she says insurance still hasn't agreed to pay for repairs and stopped paying for rent elsewhere. Mordecai also says she's still paying for utilities at the vacant home so her pipes don't freeze. Now she says she's working with an attorney to get money back from her insurance provider.
"My son has asthma, so whenever he comes by, I know he goes home, and he has some issues," Mordecai said. "I cough a lot. I sit in meetings and I wind up coughing."
Those symptoms match up with that study that showed toxins may have lingered long after the fire was put out. The research also found air quality in one home six months after the fire is equal to a high pollution day in Los Angeles.
The study is something Colorado State Rep. and former Louisville City Council Member Kyle Brown hopes can help ignite legal change as he continues to advocate for fire survivors.
"This is not going to be the last time that Colorado experiences a devastating wildfire, and the lessons that we learn here in the Marshall Fire will affect people, I hope for many years to come," Brown said.
"I think studies like what they did at CU is really great and really helpful," he continued. "That's the kind of study that we didn't have the money to do two years ago. But it's going to take more than that, right? It's going to take there are these national groups that set health and safety standards, and we need, we need folks to take heed and yet the insurance companies still refuse to do anything meaningful."
Brown says he's planning to address the continuing impacts of the Marshall Fire in next month's legislative session, saying, "we're going to continue to push on the health and safety aspects of standing homes to make sure that we are getting folks back and that we are setting appropriate health and safety standards and insurance standards as well."
Meanwhile, survivors like Mordecai are hoping that change comes soon
"I'm hoping that through that information coming out," she said. "That we don't have people and children in 30 years that have cancer that they look back and say, oh, we should have taken action in 2024 and 2025 on this. Let's take that action through our legislature now."
