Colorado
Colorado faces a stark reality after California fires
Some 50,000 more people were under evacuation orders Wednesday as another wind-blown wildfire hit California north of Los Angeles. The fires have again renewed focus on dangers in what it known as the wildland-urban interface or WUI, where fire has marched into urban areas in both California and Colorado with greater losses than ever in recent years.
“It was a couple hundred yards from the first house. And only because the wind died down completely did they get a really good handle on it,” recalled Todd Houghton, a realtor in the Willow Springs area up against the mountains south of Highway 285, who has become a community organizer. He was remembering the 2022 Snow Creek Fire that had people packing up to evacuate.
“That was a wake-up call,” said Houghton, who has gotten wildfire mitigation certification as he thinks about the open space areas and the thousand or so homes that are potentially at risk.
“There’s going to be a fire, you can’t prevent it. And there’s not enough water to stop a fire when the wind is blowing 50 mph. So you have to protect your own property and teach others how to do it.”
West Metro Fire’s Tom Welle, a wildfire mitigation specialist points out that Colorado faces many of the same risks as California.
“We’re no different than what’s happening in LA. It’s just the frequency of it happening there is because of their climate and their fuels.”
It’s clear that there may be draconian solutions ahead to protecting homes, but much of the problem has already been created with the way homes have been built and where.
“Because of what we build them out of and we build them too close together. But there’s a lot of economics that goes into that and we can’t ignore that.”
There are pressures to create housing and developers may be loathe to create larger homesites in WUI areas because it raises the cost of building.
“We have to embrace as a society that we’ve got to live differently, we’ve got to build differently, in order for us to withstand when that bad day comes,” said Welle.
In terms of disasters, wildfire is less driven by nature than other major incidents says Alexander Maranghides, fire protection engineer, and technical lead of WUI research at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Maryland. NIST has been studying fires for fifty years.
“The energy from a tornado, the energy from a hurricane, the energy from an earthquake is from the land or the soil from the earth, the energy in the WUI is from the built environment itself.”
He talks about changes needed that vary greatly.
“There are many challenges and fire. Science is giving us a path forward to get there. But I’m not naive enough to think that fire science is the only part that’s missing here… There are a lot of other components, including sociological components where we need paradigm shifts of how we live.”
And what we permit in WUI areas.
“You cannot have sheds in high density. You cannot have parallel fences in high density. You cannot park your RV next to your house,” he explains about potential rules. Simple things we do now will have to be re-learned.
“You take your shed, and you want it away from your house. So you put it next to your wooden fence on the edge of your property.
and I do the same on my side. So what we’re creating is corridors of high fuels.”
Properties will need to be hardened by creating safe zones surrounding them says Welle and changing vents and gutters to prevent ember intrusion and fuel availability. Decks and lawn furniture are also fire risks.
There are also political realities. Houghton notes that strong legislation cannot be shoved down voters’ throats.
“I don’t think so. Not in America,” he answered when asked.
“I think it’s very difficult. You know it’s real easy to throw rocks at politicians over this stuff and I don’t think it’s always fair,” said Welle. “Cost and revenue are huge.” That is revenue from a tax base.
It may not be elected or government officials at all deciding what can and can’t be done.
“If it’s not a fire, it will be the insurance company. We’ve got lots of them dropping here already,” said Houghton. He tries to get his neighbors to take on mitigation. There has been growing interest and volunteers come out to help in open areas. But some others don’t want to join the effort. There are ten different HOAs and with close to 1,000 homes built in different eras, needs of the Willow Springs and Willow Brook areas are different.
“Protect your own property. That’s the only message I can come up with that works,” said Houghton.
Columbus Blue Jackets (18-18-7) @ Colorado Avalanche (32-4-7)
2 p.m. MT | Ball Arena | Watch: Altitude, Altitude+ | Listen: Altitude Sports Radio (92.5 FM)
After a homestand-opening win on Thursday, the Avalanche hosts the Columbus Blue Jackets for Next Gen Night on Saturday. This is the second and final regular-season matchup between the teams in 2025-26, as the Avalanche defeated the Blue Jackets 4-1 in Columbus on October 16th.
Latest Result (COL): OTT 2, COL 8
Latest Result (CBJ): CBJ 3, VGK 5
A Big Night at Ball
Josh Manson recorded the first two-goal and four-point game of his career, along with a Gordie Howe hat trick, as the Avalanche defeated the Ottawa Senators 8-2 at Ball Arena on Thursday. Manson was one of five Avs to post at least three points on Thursday, alongside Nathan MacKinnon (1g/3a), Ross Colton (3a), Brock Nelson (2g/1a) and Cale Makar (1g/2a). Additionally, Brent Burns added a goal for Colorado while Scott Wedgewood stopped 29 of the 31 shots he faced in net for the Avs. With the victory, the Avalanche extended its home win streak to 16 games.
At 10:11 of the first period, Manson opened the scoring with his third goal of the season via a shot from the point through traffic. MacKinnon doubled Colorado’s lead at 17:14 of the first period with his 36th goal of the season via a shot from the slot set up by Necas. The Avs took a 3-0 lead at 2:35 of the second period when Makar scored his 13th tally of the season via a left-circle shot after receiving a drop pass from MacKinnon. At 5:08 of the middle frame, Shane Pinto put the Senators on the board. The Senators momentarily made it 3-2 with 13:41 remaining in the second period, but the goal was disallowed after the Avs successfully challenged for offside. After the disallowed tally, the clock was reset to 13:48.
Necas gave the Avs a 4-1 lead on the power play at 11:46 of the second period with his 20th goal of the season via a sharp-angle one-timer from the bottom of the left circle set up by MacKinnon. At 12:03 of the middle frame, Burns made it 5-1 with his sixth goal of the season via a right-point shot through traffic. Nelson gave the Avs a 6-1 lead on a five-on-three power play at 14:23 of the second period with his 20th goal of the season via a right-circle one-timer set up by MacKinnon’s cross-ice feed. The Avalanche took a 7-1 lead at 16:48 of the middle frame when Manson scored his second goal of the game and fourth of the season via a one-timer from the point set up by Jack Drury’s feed. At 18:04 of the middle frame, Nelson scored his second tally of the game and 21st of the season via a right-circle one-timer set up by Ilya Solovyov’s feed from the left point. Brady Tkachuk made it 8-2 with a shorthanded goal from the doorstep at 7:03 of the third period.
Leading the Way
Nate the Great
MacKinnon leads the NHL in goals (36) and points (78) while ranking tied for third in assists (42).
All Hail Cale
Makar leads NHL defensemen in points (51) and assists (38) while ranking third in goals by blueliners (13). Among all NHL skaters, he’s seventh in assists.
Marty Party
Necas is seventh in the NHL in points (55) and tied for ninth in assists (35).
Series History
In 70 previous regular-season games against the Blue Jackets, the Avalanche has a record of 45-19-1-5.
Defeat on the Road
The Blue Jackets lost 5-3 to the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena on Thursday. In the first period, Columbus took a 2-0 lead after goals from Boone Jenner at 8:24 and Kent Johnson at 10:41 before Reilly Smith put Vegas on the board at 12:20. The Golden Knights took a 4-2 lead after second-period goals from Smith at 5:19, Jack Eichel at 13:07 and Mark Stone on the power play at 18:44. Kirill Marchenko scored for the Blue Jackets to make it 4-3 at 14:28 of the third period before Brett Howden gave the Golden Knights a 5-3 lead at 16:14 of the final frame.
Contributors Against Columbus
MacKinnon has posted 26 points (7g/19a) in 22 games against the Blue Jackets.
In nine contests against Columbus, Makar has registered 17 points (6g/11a).
Necas has recorded 21 points (4g/17a) in 26 games against the Blue Jackets.
Producing Offense for Ohio’s Team
Zach Werenski leads the Blue Jackets in points (46) and assists (30) while ranking tied for first in goals (16).
Marchenko is tied for the team lead in goals (16) while ranking second in points (35) and tied for second in assists (19).
Dmitri Voronkov is third on the Blue Jackets in points (28) and goals (15).
A Numbers Game
30
Colorado’s 30 five-on-five goals since December 19th (10 games) are the most in the NHL during that span.
63
The Avalanche’s 63 second-period goals lead the NHL.
3.94
Colorado’s 3.94 goals per game since December 1st lead the NHL during that span.
Quote That Left a Mark
“It was fun. I don’t think he’s ever seen that before. He’s seen me fight. He’s maybe seen me score. But I don’t think he’s ever seen—actually, nobody’s ever seen that before out of me in the NHL. So, it was a first for everybody, including myself.”
— Josh Manson on recording a Gordie Howe hat trick with his father, former NHLer Dave Manson, in attendance
Four years after the fire, recovery is still incomplete for some Marshall Fire victims. A Colorado man is joining wildfire survivors from across the country to push lawmakers to make changes and provide support for survivors still rebuilding.
Recently, a historic $640 million settlement was reached with Xcel Energy, but the Coloradans who lost everything in the Marshall Fire might not be receiving all the money that they’re owed. Some settlements could be taxed, while others were paid in full.
“I was the fourth responding fire engine to the Marshall Fire. By the end of the night, I was triaging homes in the neighborhood that I grew up in,” said former firefighter Benjamin Carter. “I’ve seen how much the community’s hurting, and I just wanted to do whatever I could to help.”
Carter is now fighting for those who lost their homes, including his mother. He’s working with an organization called After the Fire, joining up with wildfire survivors in Oregon, Hawaii and California. This week, Carter flew to Washington, D.C., to speak with lawmakers about how they can help survivors rebuild.
In 2024, lawmakers passed the Federal Disaster Tax Relief Act, which exempted wildfire survivors from taxes on related settlements, among other tax relief. But the bill expired last week, shortly after Xcel agreed to settle over the Marshall Fire.
“If the people don’t have to pay taxes on the damages, then it helps them rebuild,” Carter explained. “Some of the smaller attorneys still haven’t received payment, so all those people will be subject to those taxes; all the attorney fees, and what the actual settlements end up being. And, of what they’re actually getting at the end of the day, that’s been a huge challenge.”
Congress has already proposed extension options. But Carter hopes that by sharing their stories, legislators will act before survivors lose anything else.
“With a lot going on in Washington and everything, the representatives don’t always know about all the issues. And so, we want to educate them on this issue and hopefully gain their support,” Carter said.
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