Experts Expect To Remove All Debris From Marshall Fire By July 1
BOULDER COUNTY, Colo. (CBS4) - Debris cleanup from the Marshall Fire, which some feared might take as long as a year and a half, is set to be completed by July under a contract under review between Boulder County and a Texas-based contractor. The deal for $52.6 million is less than many believed and on the low end of estimates that ranged up to $199 million.
The deal with DRC Emergency Services calls for the work to start March 1 and be wrapped up by July 1. It's an ambitious timeline that exceeds many expectations.
"When we first heard 12 to 18 months, we said this is insane. That's where I got really frustrated because we've never seen a timeline that long for some of these other disasters," said Town of Superior trustee Neal Shah.
The county's cleanup will cover homes not only in unincorporated Boulder County, but in Superior and Louisville where most of the homes were lost.
"It's still too early to be able to make any sort of judgement about that," said Louisville homeowner Louis Delaware. He and his wife are still considering whether to sign on for county to clear the property or to hire a contractor.
"The quotes we've been getting typically have been like $28-to-36,0000," said Delaware. Some have been as high as $86,000.
The county's deal will mean an average cost of about $49,000 per property. It will include clearing foundations, nearly all of which were so heavily damaged by intense heat, they are not strong enough to support rebuilt homes.
The question of how much FEMA will cover is still up in the air, because while FEMA has said it will cover 75% of the cost in reimbursement grants, it has not yet indicated whether that will include the cost of foundation removal as the county has asked.
Insurance companies do get billed for the cost of site clearing and so much of the money will be recouped there. The State of Colorado has also pledged funding to help share the cost of the required 25% local match for FEMA grants.
In addition, Colorado's congressional leaders are asking for FEMA to potentially offer up to 100% coverage. The cost of foundations is unusual for FEMA, which often provides grants in places like California and Florida after major disasters where they are less common.
"Otherwise it's going to be very expensive for our municipalities, very expensive for the homeowners if FEMA doesn't pick that up," said Shah.
About 900 homeowners have signed up for the county/FEMA site clearing so far. The deadline to sign up has again been extended until the end of the day (11:59pm) Friday Feb. 18.
Many other aspects of the cleanup are not set either, even with work starting March 1.
"I still haven't heard how deep they're going to have to do the soil removal because some of that's going to have toxic material as well," said Delaware. He says he and his wife hope to wait to do their cleanup of their property last, partly because they have yet to find an architect to design a replacement home.
He is also concerned about cross contamination from the cleanup of other home sites.
"I want to wait as long as I possibly can to have our material removed because I want to sort of try to minimize any sort of contamination that may come from an adjacent property."
He's also skeptical the cleanup can be accomplished as quickly as the contractor is saying.
"I just don't believe they can get it done that fast."
Shah says local leaders have been talking extensively with people who have been through massive fire losses in California.
"What we saw in California is after one of the fires, 11,000 homes were cleaned up in nine months, so we're looking at 1,100 homes here in four months, and I think it's the right goal."
The next steps he believes will be, ensuring there is money to help those who cannot afford the remaining cleanup bill, which might have to supplemented in Superior by the town, potentially through a taxation request if existing funding pools are not enough and then, making sure they can get affordable housing built quickly.
"Our town board is looking at every option out there to try to get homes built, whether it's modular homes, 3D printed homes, anything we can do to try to bring down the cost of construction."
