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LA VETA, Colo. — A famed quilter with a significant following on social media says he and his partner lost their home in the Spring Fire burning in southern Colorado.

Ricky Tims said his partner Justin watched the fire from afar with a zoom lens on Monday. While the house was intact at the time, flames soon began heading toward their home. Tims, who was returning to La Veta after a trip to Chicago, met up with Justin.

“There was no way to really see what was happening with the house. It took only 20 minutes or less to engulf our 40-acre parcel,” Tims said on his Facebook page, adding that he and Justin watched the scene for about three hours. “During that time the fire simply kept marching forward through the ranch and of course smoke obscured any secrets that might have been spared.”

According to his website, Tims has lived in the La Veta area since 2003.

“While we will not know for a while if our house is gone or not (I would guess a 5% chance if any), we are just accepting that is has been lost,” he wrote.

Tims is best known for his quilting, but he is also a musician, photographer, author and speaker.

In a phone interview with FOX31 on Tuesday, Tims said there is some relief in knowing his home was almost certainly destroyed.

“It was unnerving and just something that you try to figure out and cope with, but it’s actually a tremendous relief to know that now I don’t have to worry about that. There’s other things to worry [about], but that part of the chapter is done,” Tims said.

He expressed a similar sentiment on Facebook.

“No more ‘wondering’ where to fire would go – would it reach our place? We now knew the answer. It did,” Tims wrote.

He has received an outpouring of support on social media. He encouraged people to “just exhale,” and reminded them that “things are just things – and people you love are the treasures.”

Tims wrote that he and Justin also have a home in the town of La Veta itself, where they are now staying. The home that he believes burned is in an area called Autumn Rock. It was just completed in March.