GRAND COUNTY, Colo. (KDVR) — While it’s still unclear how many structures have burned in the East Troublesome Fire, several families have already learned that their properties were destroyed.
Matt Reed’s recently completed log home is a total loss, including nearly everything his family owned.
In just a matter of minutes, fire exploded in the neighborhood in unincorporated Grand Lake.
Reed scrambled through his home to find and save his family’s most precious belongings.
“I got a four-minute video of what’s in our house that finished 11 months ago. Three years of building, and we didn’t even get to stay there a year — and it’s vaporized. It’s a log house and there’s not one stick of wood left in that foundation,” said Reed.
One of the toughest parts was explaining to his daughter that her home was gone.
“She’s 3 1/2. She lost everything she knows. She’s got a pretty good idea that our house is gone but she wants to check on her princess castle and she want to see if her bathtub is OK,” said Reed.
We caught up with Reed as he was buying some new jeans and new dolls for his daughter in the town of Fraser.
Reed and some others from the Grand Lake community are saying more fire mitigation should have been done to prevent catastrophic losses.
Alan Funk, who lives in Grand Lake and owns a general store there, said there has been a lack of mitigation for eight years.