photo credit: Denver Post
The recent Marshall Fire has rocked our world. This is the area and these are the communities where we live and work. Many of Sobo’s staff, and many more Sobo clients and friends have been affected by this calamity. So much instantaneous destruction and chaos.
We here at Sobo have put our heads together, consulted with trusted resources, in efforts of figuring out how to help out people recover from the tragic fires.
First and foremost: Immediate Resources for the Marshall Fire
If you or someone you know needs assistance, here are some immediate resources to help:
- FEMA has made disaster assistance available to Marshall Fire victims by registering here or by calling 1-800-621-3362.
- The Boulder County Public Call Center can help by calling 303-413-7730.
- The Boulder Area Rental Housing Association (BARHA) is assisting in temporary housing. Displaced residents can visit here for available properties and resources.
- The Boulder County Disaster Assistance Center is open daily and can connect you to a multitude of additional resources. Click here for more information.
If you would like to donate to victims, we recommend the following:
Clearing the Debris:
We are not experts in this. We’ve demoed and built many houses, but mass clean-up and mitigating toxic ash is not our specialty.
There is a Debris Removal Program, for which the deadline to register for is 1/26/22 and should be your first step towards cleanup.
Rebuilding your Home:
At the time of writing this blog post, we don’t have an answer for our ability to rebuild homes that were destroyed.
Here’s what we know at this point:
- We’re interested in helping people recover. We want to help.
- We won’t drop any of our current commitments to existing customers.. Which means we don’t have the ability to help rebuilding for at least a year. If you need to get your home rebuilt asap, we’re not the company you’re looking for.
- If you are interested in thoughtfully rebuilding your home and are willing to roll with our process and timelines, we may be a good fit for your rebuild.
- Hot Opinion!: One silver lining in the catastrophe is that there’s an opportunity to rebuild over 1,000 houses and make them super energy efficient.
Here’s Mike’s recipe for how to best rebuild your home:
- Stop using natural gas. Read more here.
- Install a geothermal heatpump heating/cooling system. It’s the best way to keep your home comfortable all year round.
- Install PV, or at least make your home PV ready. Getting solar panels to create electric energy is a great fit for homes that run entirely on electricity.
- Have a terrific building envelope. The good news here is that the current building code requires high quality windows and insulation details.
- Don’t be afraid to change the design of your home. If you can’t rebuild your house for a while, you might as well take advantage of the time and really think about your old house. What were your favorite things about it? What was less than ideal?
- Read another of Mike's blog posts about energy efficient homes here.
Our hearts are with all the people who lost their homes.
