GRAND LAKE, Colo. — Five years after the East Troublesome Fire tore through Grand County, the burn scar still looms large over Grand Lake, a daily reminder of how quickly everything can change in Colorado and throughout the Rocky Mountain west.
- What is Denver7 | Your Voice? Read about the project here
Through Denver7 | Your Voice's initiative, many residents and visitors told us they are worried about growth in Grand Lake, how that growth could impact wildfire risk, and whether the town is truly prepared should another catastrophic fire happen.
For people who lived through East Troublesome, those concerns aren’t hypothetical and a single question lingers like the smoke after a wildfire: How do you protect a town built on trees?
“We all look out for each other”
Donnie Kern has called Grand Lake home for decades. He and his wife live in the Columbine Lake community, which they believe is a little slice of heaven on Earth.
“We’ve lived here about 33 years,” Kern said.
You can hear in his voice how much this place, and his newly rebuilt home, mean to him.
“How could you not want to be here? We raised both our kids here; my wife and I did,” Kern said.
Denver7 spoke with Kern back in 2021, a few months after the East Troublesome Fire ripped through the area, destroying his home.
As a former firefighter, Kern believed he understood wildfire behavior. When East Troublesome first sparked, he thought his community was far enough away to be safe.
“And we know the fire was… it was 21 miles away. So, as a firefighter I’m like, ‘We’re good, it’s 21 miles away,’” he said.
But East Troublesome didn’t behave like a typical fire.
“It was a scary day,” Kern said.
“Wow, yeah, it went that fast.”
David Kaeding was the manager of the Columbine Lake community at the time of the fire and remembers just how quickly everything changed.
“At 6 o’clock, they said they had no plans of evacuating Grand Lake at that time,” Kaeding said. “And at about 6:15 we got a pre-evac notice. And at 6:25, it was, ‘Why are you still here?’ Wow. Yeah, it went that fast.”
Kern described the firestorm in blunt terms.
“It was pretty much a hurricane with fire in it, so, you know, so there was – if you were in the path, you didn’t stand a chance,” Kern said.
In total, 363 homes were lost in Grand County. Twenty-six of them were in Kern’s Columbine Lake neighborhood.
But while the fire destroyed homes, it didn’t destroy the community.
A community rallies
“The community has been great,” Kern said. “It’s a lot to take in when you lose, when you lose everything. But the community rallied.”
He remembers how neighbors and businesses stepped up to help.
“Like my wife said when we were coming over here to do the interview with you, I don’t think we paid for a meal the first year after the fire. Anytime we went into town, someone paid for our meal,” Kern said.
Rebuilding, however, hasn’t been easy.
“It’s a long process to actually rebuild your house from scratch,” he said.
Insurance, he said, was a mixed experience.
“Good and bad. I think we fared pretty well compared to other people,” Kern said.
Prepared, but only to a point
Like many mountain residents, Kern had taken steps to protect his home before the East Troublesome wildfire.
“I had defensible space around my house, but it really didn’t matter,” he said.
Even with years of improvements since East Troublesome, residents acknowledge there’s a limit to how much preparation will matter.
“People are far more aware of fires,” Kaeding said. “More upgraded systems, but... you’re looking at the area we live in right now — you’d have to cut down so many trees to be totally safe. And you’re still not safe.”
Businesses on the fire line
Local businesses felt the impact, too.
Jennifer Brown has owned the Quacker Gift Shop and The Mountain Gal Boutique on Grand Avenue for two decades.
“We started in the duck business 20 years ago,” Brown said. “We started with a little box of rubber ducks and then it became a lot of ducks.”
Her store and others on Grand Avenue stood just feet from the fire line.
“If you walk out these doors you can see the fire line and it’s right there,” Brown said.
She knows just how close she came to losing everything.
“How fortunate do you feel to have escaped that?” asked Denver7’s Russell Haythorn.
“Praise God to our toenails and every ounce of energy and blood that we have,” Brown said.
When evacuations come, she knows exactly what matters.
“You take your pets, your cash, your computers and your valuable papers and you leave,” she said.
Looking ahead and holding on
Today, Brown is focused on what’s next, including Grand Lake’s holiday traditions.
“It’s a Hallmark magical moment: We have Santa, we have reindeer, we have hot chocolate, we have cookies,” she said.
She’s also looking toward long-term solutions, including new affordable live-work spaces coming to town.
“What that’s going to provide is nine individual spaces,” Brown said. “There’s going to be studios, there’s going to be one-bedrooms and it’s going to be at an affordable price.”
“Live, work and create,” she added.
The goal is to support a town built on tourism and resilience.
“In front of their studio or one bedroom, there’s going to be a place where they can sell their pottery, their art, their music,” Brown said.
“We’re better than we were”
For Kern and others who rebuilt, there’s hope in what now stands.
“We’re better than we were,” Kern said.
Grand Lake remains a community marked by fire, but not defined by it.
“We pay attention to the weather and watch the forecast and we do what we can,” Kern said.
And through change, growth, and ongoing risk, the town is holding on to what makes it special.
“We want to stay this authentic little western town, but we have to keep up with the rest of the world,” Brown said.
Five years later, Grand Lake is still standing — and still finding its way forward.
In these Denver7 | Your Voice stories, we want to hear from you about what matters most in your community. We hope to hear what makes our communities special, the challenges facing them, and everything in between. Have an idea or want to share your thoughts? Fill out the contact form below.
