The woman who was struck by lightning Thursday in Superior has now been identified, the Boulder County sheriff's office said Saturday.

"Her family is now by her side, and she remains in critical condition," the announcement said.

The sheriff's office responded Thursday evening to reports that a woman had been struck by lightning along a walking path behind the 1000 block of LaSalle Street just South of Superior Elementary School. Officials described her as a white woman between 20 and 30 years old wearing running clothes.

Bystanders had started giving her CPR immediately, the sheriff's office said. She did not have a pulse and was not breathing when first responders arrived, but after continued efforts, "she regained a faint pulse and began breathing on her own but remained unconscious," a previous announcement said.

Mountain View Fire Rescue provided advanced medical care before she was transported to a Boulder County hospital, according to the sheriff's office. She was later airlifted to a hospital in the Denver metro area.

"The bystanders were key in this kind of call," Aaron Miller, EMS Captain for Mountain View Fire Rescue, told Denver7 previously. "And most calls that we run, actually, bystanders make such a big difference."

As of 9:30 a.m. Friday, the sheriff's office said she had a regular heartbeat and was breathing on her own.

Authorities had previously been asking for the public's help in identifying her, as she did not have identification with her at the time of the lightning strike and her phone was severely damaged in the strike.

"We appreciate the communitys assistance and support during this incident," the sheriff's office said in Saturday's announcement.

Officials said Saturday that no additional information will be released at this time out of respect for her privacy.

According to the National Weather Service, lightning typically kills and injures more people in Colorado than any other thunderstorm-related hazard. Since 1980, 101 people in Colorado have been killed by lightning and 490 have been injured, the NWS reported.

If you are caught outside in lightning, the best course of action is to get inside a fully enclosed building or a vehicle. If you are in a car, do not touch any metal objects inside. The NWS recommends waiting about 30 minutes after the last thunder rumble to go back outside.

NWS warns not to seek shelter under picnic shelters, sports dugouts, trees, porches, carports or tents.

BOULDER COUNTY, Colo. A lightning strike along a walking path in Superior injured a woman and temporarily left her without a heartbeat. As she recovers in a hospital, authorities are now asking for the public's help identifying her.

On Thursday just before 5:45 p.m., deputies with the Boulder County Sheriff's Office responded to the 1000 block of Lasalle Street just south of Superior Elementary School after receiving a report that a woman had been struck by lightning.

WATCH: Woman hospitalized after losing pulse in lightning strike in Superior

When they arrived, they found that the woman did not have a detectable pulse, the sheriff's office said. She was not breathing. After first responders began resuscitation efforts, they found a light pulse and she started breathing again, however she was still unconscious.

Mountain View Fire Rescue, which also responded, provided advanced medical care, the sheriff's office said. The woman was then transported to a local hospital and later airlifted to a Denver hospital.

"The bystanders were key in this kind of call," said Aaron Miller, EMS Captain for Mountain View Fire Rescue. "And most calls that we run, actually, bystanders make such a big difference."

Bystanders at the scene told emergency personnel that they heard a loud boom and then found the woman lying beneath a tree that had been struck by lightning on a walking path behind Lasalle Street. They started CPR and called 911.

"It was extremely loud," said neighbor Luke Curulli, describing the storm. "And, yeah, it felt like it was straight over me."

As of 9:30 a.m. Friday, the sheriff's office said she has a regular heartbeat and is breathing on her own. She remains in critical condition.

The sheriff's office is now asking the public for help identifying her, as she did not have identification with her at the time of the lightning strike and her phone was heavily damaged and no longer works. Authorities have used her fingerprints and missing person reports in Boulder County to try to identify her, but that has not yet been successful.

A digital forensics lab is working to get information from her phone.

She is described as a white woman between 20 and 30 years, standing 5 feet, 5 inches tall, and weighing 120 pounds. She has red or auburn hair. At the time, she was wearing a green running shirt, a dark windbreaker, black striped running shorts and white and pink Saucony running shoes, the sheriff's office said. She has three butterfly tattoos on her right upper arm.

The sheriff's office said it is not releasing a photo of her because "she does not look like herself right due" due to the significant trauma of the lightning strike.

Anybody with information on her identity is asked to contact the Boulder County Sheriffs Office at 303-441-4444. The sheriff's office is also asking people with security cameras in the area to check if their cameras captured her passing by.

Severe storm season tends to roll into Colorado in April and May. In an average year, lightning strikes the ground in Colorado about 500,000 times.

According to the National Weather Service, lightning typically kills and injures more people in Colorado than any other thunderstorm-related hazard. Since 1980, 101 people in Colorado have been killed by lightning and 490 have been injured, the NWS reported.

In 2025, Denver7 reported on two prominent cases where people were struck by lightning: In June, two men were hit by lightning on the 14,300-foot Torreys Peak and were rescued via helicopter. And in September, two young hunters in Conejos County were found dead after a lightning strike.

If you are caught outside in lightning, the best course of action is to get inside a fully enclosed building or a vehicle. If you are in a car, do not touch any metal objects inside. The NWS recommends waiting about 30 minutes after the last thunder rumble to go back outside.

"Prevention is key in these type of incidents," said Miller.

Do not seek shelter under picnic shelters, sports dugouts, trees, porches, carports or tents, the NWS warns.

SUPERIOR, Colo. A years-long battle between neighbors and the Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport could be headed to the Colorado Supreme Court.

RMMA is about six miles away from the Superior Town Hall, where Denver7 met with Mayor Mark Lacis on Tuesday.

"This community and the airport have peacefully coexisted for decades. It was only really the exponential growth in flight school traffic out of the airport over the past five, six years that has led our residents to say, 'You've got to do something about this,' said Lacis.

Meanwhile, Denver7 has continued hearing from residents and neighbors in Boulder County about their experiences over the years.

Eventually, Superior and Boulder County joined forces to file a lawsuit against the airport and its owner, Jefferson County. A judge recently ruled on concerns about leaded fuel and airport noise.

The issue regarding leaded fuel was remanded to a district court for further proceedings. However, the determination regarding the noise issue was not what town leaders had hoped for.

"The court of appeals concluded that airport owners like Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport have the power to address noise issues at their airport, but that courts themselves don't have the power to order the airport to exercise that authority," said Lacis.

The town and Boulder County have 42 days from the date of the ruling to petition the state supreme court for review. Ultimately, if the municipalities decide to do so, it will be up to the supreme court whether the case is heard.

In the meantime, the town council is expected to discuss options for moving forward sometime in mid-April.

"I fully support moving forward with an appeal to the Colorado Supreme Court, because, frankly, I think the court of appeals got it wrong," said Lacis. "Courts for hundreds of years have had power to order injunctions to address nuisances."

RMMA told Denver7 they cannot comment on pending litigation, but sent us the following statement:

Voluntary Noise Abatement Program

transition to unleaded aviation fuel

RMMA's next public town hall will be on Wednesday, April 22, from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the RMMA Terminal. In addition, the public date for their land-use and noise study is tentatively set for May 20 at a location yet to be determined.

Lacis said that, regardless of what the court decides, he'd like to see better support from the federal government and Jefferson County for these communities' concerns.

"You can't pollute a river, have it flow downstream, and then wipe your hands clean and say 'It's not my problem anymore,' when you're negatively impacting the people downstream," said Lacis.

Denver7 reached out to US Senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper for a comment, but has yet to hear back.

A spokesperson for Jefferson County told Denver7 the county does not comment on pending litigation.

Warning signs are going up in the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge the site of a former nuclear weapons production site warning people of possible radioactive contamination.

The Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center said this move is a direct response to requests from residents in the area. For years, the wildlife refuge has been at the center of heated debates about its safety and if it was properly cleaned before converted to a wildlife refuge.

While signs have been in place for years at the refuge, on Tuesday, Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center announced it was adding a new sign this one warning about "potential risks of using trails."

Below is a look at the sign.

It warns that people may be exposed to radioactive materials and encourages hikers, bikers and equestrians to make informed decisions before entering. The City of Westminster said the new signage will also be posted at the bridge over Indiana Street within the coming weeks.

Rocky Flats was shut down in 1989 following an FBI raid and a federal investigation that resulted in Rockwell International, the sites operator at the time, pleading guilty to environmental crimes, including illegal storage of radioactive waste and violations of the Clean Water Act. Although a $7 billion cleanup was completed in 2005, Allred and other activists argue the remediation was insufficient and that dangerous particles including plutonium, americium, uranium, beryllium and radioactive lead still remain in the soil and air.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service opened the refuge to the public in 2018. Today, the EPA and Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment say that the plutonium contamination in that area does not pose a health threat. But concerns continue to grow for nearby communities.

In June, Denver7 reported that Westminster was considering caution signs.

Around that same time, Westminster, Broomfield and Superior formally withdrew from the Rocky Mountain Greenway trail project, which would connect Rocky Flats to other regional parks. Wheels were set in motion in 2016 to develop the greenway, which would connect a string of trails from the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge to the Rocky Flats Mountain Wildlife Refuge to Rocky Mountain National Park.

In the past years, seven school districts have also barred staff from bringing children in their care to field trips at Rocky Flats, according to the Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center.

Christopher Allred, with the Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center, led the campaign for the new warning signs.

After decades of advocacy from the state to the municipal and county levels, we finally will have strong warnings posted around Rocky Flats, he said in a press release. We appreciate these important steps by the Boulder County Commission and Westminster City Council to bring more transparency and public health protections to the region. It is time for other communities bordering Rocky Flats to follow suit.

The controversy around Rocky Flats was on full display at the 19th Colorado Environmental Film Festival, where "Half-life of Memory: Americas Forgotten Atomic Bomb Factory" dove into the history.

Prior coverage:

BOULDER COUNTY, Colo. New homes stand tall in many of the neighborhoods that were burnt in the aftermath of the historic Marshall Fire, which damaged or destroyed more than 1,000 homes and businesses in Superior, Louisville and Boulder County amid hurricane-force winds and extreme drought conditions.

The Coal Creek Ranch neighborhood in Louisville has gone through one of those dramatic transformations, with new residences dotted along the streets and a handful of homes still under construction.

On Tuesday afternoon, the Kleinschmidts were unloading snacks and drinks into their brand new home on their old plot of land in preparation for a gathering with their neighbors. The family plans to move into the home over the weekend, but wanted to celebrate the milestone first.

"We lost our house in the fire four years ago today, and we weren't going to rebuild a house. And then we changed our mind and decided to rebuild, and we just got the keys last week," said Kate Kleinschmidt, while unpacking items to make spiced nuts for the party that night. Just kind of slowly and surely getting things over from our current abode over to the new place.

It feels weird moving into a house where we used to live, and we lived here for a couple years before we didn't, and all of our neighbors have been back for a while," said Nick Kleinschmidt.

One of the reasons the Kleinschmidts decided to rebuild was the community they are surrounded by within the Coal Creek Ranch neighborhood.

We've just had a lot in the last six months coming out and visiting with them, seeing everybody getting back into their houses. It really feels like we're getting back into the community where we used to live," Kate said. It's exciting to be close to the people that we've gotten to know so well over the past few years through the journey too."

It was a journey the family never wanted, but they are no longer defined by the destruction of the fire and instead said they have discovered the recipe for resiliency throughout the process.

How do you make lemons out of lemonade? And you have this lot, and you own it, you can build the house of your dreams on it. Why don't we? Why not? Lets do it," Kate said with a smile.

Kate remembered the sky filled with smoke on Dec. 30, 2021. She and the young children left the home without any idea they would never come back.

Meanwhile, Battalion Chief Tim Mallon with Mountain View Fire Rescue was a captain at the time of the Marshall Fire. He was one of the first crews fighting the blaze, which the Boulder County sheriff believes was sparked by two separate fires. According to the sheriff's investigation, the first fire was likely sparked by a resident's buried fire from about a week prior and the second likely began as a result of a disconnected Xcel Energy power line. Xcel Energy has disagreed with the investigation's findings in the past.

No matter the cause, the conditions of that dramatic day cannot be disputed.

"It was like a blowtorch, really," Mallon said, explaining how the wind and dry fuels fed the fire. When I say it was blowing hard, I mean, the vast majority of the firefighters lost their helmets during this.

With grit and ash filling his eyes, Mallon said his body went into work mode.

Fortunately or unfortunately, I've been on a lot of those [similar] fires in California, Montana, and I've seen events like this. It wasn't in my backyard, so it wasn't as emotional, but I felt like I had some experience in that," Mallon said. We all recognized from the get-go that this was going to be very challenging, very difficult to contain.

For Mallon, the fire feels like it was yesterday. The fight was more about saving lives than structures, and it was the most extreme event in Mallon's 22-year career.

You can look at all the national data, but we're starting to see larger and larger fires, and they're starting to hit communities," said Mallon. "They're not restricted to the forests anymore, and a lot of that is our choices as human beings, where we're building our properties... The dryness, the location of our housing, and the wind those things don't play well together.

Anxiety connected to powerful winds is a reality that plagues Boulder County. That fear reared its head again just before the Christmas holiday, when powerful hurricane force winds swept throughout the state. Thousands of Colorado Xcel Energy customers were intentionally without power as part of Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS), which are intended to mitigate wildfire risk from damaged lines.

Research Physical Scientist Eric James, who works at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), said accurate forecasting makes a decision like a PSPS possible.

We just have had such a dry autumn. We had that one snowstorm earlier in December. But other than that, it's been very, very dry for the last few months, and the weather service was on top of that with red flag warnings and strongly worded warnings days in advance of this, even talking about potentially shutting off power, which they Xcel ended up doing," James said. "I think the forecasts haven't been good enough until recently to be able to take a step like that. It's a very drastic step. You know, you have to have confidence, because it's got major risks. (If) something doesn't happen, people are going to be really upset. The forecasts are now accurate enough to be able to do that.

James believes the power shutoffs were likely the right decision, given the high winds and dry conditions. Mallon agreed that the response was a proactive approach.

"You see what Xcel decided to do shut down the power and I know that's a huge interruption, but it's possibly saved fires (from happening) and therefore people's houses and lives," said Mallon. "I think the hardest thing for us is to be diligent. I think the further we get away from the event, the less we're going to be noticing it or caring about potential consequences. What I would hope is that we remember this for what it was, and it was life-altering for a lot of people, and that we stay on guard and continue to fund the agencies and the programs that are trying to do the right things, and we keep a focus on it.

Dr. Andy Hoell, research meteorologist at NOAA, leads a team on the early warnings of drought and its compounding and cascading effects, which includes fire.

"I'm not going to give my impression of the power shutoffs, because that's probably a little bit outside of my zone, but I will say this: It was exceptional," Hoell said. "It was actually very regionally specific... And it really speaks to the complexity of our weather, of our climate, especially in this area the Front Range.

According to Hoell, fire is likely one of the more understudied phenomena within the meteorology and Earth sciences community. However, he said the understanding of the conditions that create a fire is growing through technologies like monitoring and forecasting conditions, and through events like the Marshall Fire.

We learn a lot through the extreme events that we live through, and every extreme event is an opportunity for us to be able to apply that information to a future situation, a forecast, using that forecast to inform a decision, and ultimately to protect lives and property," said Hoell.

Hoell said a combination of factors are to blame for such catastrophic natural disasters, such as the Marshall Fire.

"Events like the Marshall Fire and fires like it, whether it's here in Colorado or elsewhere, they're caused by sequences of unfortunate events that happened over the course of several months," Hoell explained. You think about the Marshall Fire. We had a very wet spring, and because of that, we had a lot of vegetation grow. But then we had a very warm summer, a very warm fall, and a very dry fall, and that vegetation became very dry, and all it took on a given day in December was some sparks, some extreme winds, and there we go.

The Kleinschmidts believe any proactive measures that can prevent a fire are worth it in the long run.

To me, it seems like the right direction. I don't want anybody else's house to burn down because of a power line," said Kate. "I'd rather take a small inconvenience of losing power for a day or two rather than having to have anybody else go through what we went through.

According to data recorded by Boulder County, roughly 800 homes have been completely rebuilt after the Marshall Fire.

For the Kleinschmidts, moving into their new home feels like an ending to this long process.

"It starts to feel like a little bit of a bookend on the end of this journey and story," said Kate. "It's felt continuously unfinished for the past four years. It's like, well, we still own the lot. Well, the house is still being rebuilt. Well, we still have to move. And hopefully in a couple weeks, we'll be moved and we'll be able to kind of restart.

SUPERIOR, Colo. Four years after the Marshall Fire destroyed Superiors most affordable neighborhoods, the town is turning to accessory dwelling units (ADUs) as one path toward rebuilding lost housing.

An ADU is a separate, secondary dwelling built on the same lot as the main residence.

"Historically, our original town was the more affordable area of town," said Renae Stavros, planning and building director for the Town of Superior. "But we lost all of it to the Marshall Fire."

She explained the original homes in the neighborhoods near town hall were built in the 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s.

"They were just naturally affordable before, and once gone, the cost of the land is much higher now. The cost for construction, the cost for materials, really, just in order to build a house today, especially in Boulder Countyit's expensive," she said. "Affordable housing in Superior, as of today, doesn't really exist."

Throughout this month, Denver7 has checked in with metro-area communities receiving funds from the first-ever Colorado Department of Local Affairs Accessory Dwelling Unit Grant Program.

Superior will receive $225,000, which they will put toward their Superior Building Today: Encouraging ADUs in the Town of Superior program, with the town providing $75,000 in matching funds.

Part of the plan is to develop pre-approved ADU designs for homeowners to choose from.

It's similar to what the City of Brighton plans to do with its grant.

"Having a pre-set design will help you get through that process a lot faster," said Michael Martinez, city manager for the City of Brighton, when Denver7 reported on the city's ADU plan.

Superior also plans to research how to waive building fees or offset ADU costs in certain cases, using a consultant in the upcoming year.

Larimer County is exploring similar solutions with their grant funds, considering fee waivers to support affordable ADU construction.

"In exchange for keeping that housing affordable, we are willing, and able now, to waive the building permit fees," said Rebecca Everette, community development director for Larimer County, when Denver7 reported on their ADU plan.

Superior's plan also includes a GIS story map that will guide homeowners interested in building ADUs through the process and explain the available waivers and preset designs.

"There are still a lot of Marshall Fire survivors who have been displaced because of the cost of housing, and so we really hope that we can incentivize, in some way, Marshall Fire survivors to be able to come back," said Stavros.

She added that about 50 units of affordable housing for Seniors are set to begin construction in 2026.

Residents of Superior are joining a national effort to lobby for the passing of ZIP code reform bills in Congress, as the Colorado town remains without a ZIP code of its own.

Superior Mayor Pro Tem Jacob Serbu traveled to Washington D.C. with other leaders across the state to advocate for Senate Bill 2961 and Senate Bill 1455.

Overall, there's 29 states that are looking at getting zip codes for their communities. 69 of those communities are pushing for Senate Bill 2961 and 14 communities are pushing behind Senate Bill 1455. So in total, there are 83 communities in 29 states that are looking to get their own zip codes for their communities, Serbu said.

There are many ways residents benefit from having a zip code, according to Serbu, and its not just a sense of community.

The biggest thing are sales taxes, Serbu said. Every time Superior would go up to a point of sale online, it would default to Louisville, so we would essentially be losing tax revenue to our neighbor.

Then theres insurance rates. Serbu said premiums are tied to the number of accidents and claims.

When you're grouped into a larger demographic, such as we are with Louisville, we're getting the lack of a benefit of having higher incident rates, he said. We'd like to see our residents hopefully pay a much lower amount of money than they currently spend on their insurance premiums per year."

Perhaps, most concerning is a delay in emergency services.

Ambulances can be going to the wrong address in a town when they could have been going to a town 20 miles away or 20 minutes away, certainly lengthening the time of crisis for an individual, Serbu explained.

Serbu said Superior tried to get a zip code back in 1993 and 2000, and the U.S. Post Office told them, No.

We're trying it again right now. We're pushing really hard, and we're willing to push this stone up the hill as many times as it takes for our communities, Serbu said.

He does plan to travel back to the nations capital if needed. The process to get a zip code wont be quick, Serbu said. It could take until next fall until we see something done.

BROOMFIELD, Colo. Below the flight path of Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport (RMMA) is the town of Superior.

We're hearing the noise, Mayor Mark Lacis told Denver7 Wednesday. Our residents have been complaining for years.

In 2024, the Town of Superior and Boulder County filed a lawsuit against Jefferson County, which owns and operates the airport, over the noise issue. A Boulder County court dismissed that lawsuit earlier this year, though the town said it is considering options, including an appeal.

But Lacis has more concerns, and this week, he reached out to Denver7 about them.

A June memo from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) which Lacis said he first saw after a residents Freedom of Information Act request states RMMA leads the nation in potentially significant events (PSEs), which include both runway incursions and airborne safety incidents. That means it has a higher number of PSEs than the nearly 20,000 other airports nationwide that are part of the National Airspace System (NAS).

The memo came just one month after a plane crash near the airport that killed two people.

When the FAA finds that the local airport in your backyard is the most dangerous airport in the country, its time to sound the alarm, Lacis said.

Denver7 took those concerns to the FAA, which said the airports air traffic has taken off in recent years. Just days after the memo went out, the FAA said it made changes to improve safety by adding structured traffic flows to and from the runways.

The FAA noted it did not make changes to published instrument flight procedures. According to aviation expert Steve Cowell, that means those changes will apply generally to smaller planes, like Cessnas, not larger jets using the airport.

They're minor changes leading to major safety improvements, and what they're going to be doing is improving the communications, improving the charting, Cowell explained. The directives that the pilots are going to be seeing on where to fly and the altitudes they're going to be flying at, and that's going to contribute, in a positive way, to decreasing the noise footprint as well.

RMMA airport director Erick Dahl told Denver7 the FAA memos were internal, and that while the airport makes sure its infrastructure is safe, its up to the FAA to ensure safety in the sky.

They didn't ask the airport what our take on flight paths were, he said. As far as I know from our conversation, the FAA, they seem happy with the changes they've made and see a significant increase in the safety operating out of the airport now.

Cowell spent some of his pilot training at RMMA, before the growth of its operations and the surrounding communities.

There's a lot of training operations that are going on, and so there'll be a lot of mistakes, and mistakes lead to improvement in aviation, he said. Not everything that you hear about, or that's contributed to this ranking, has been a serious life-endangering issue. It could have been as simple as an airplane crossing over a double line by just a few feet that they weren't supposed to. That becomes an incursion.

Lacis, however, said the airport has grown too fast and there are too many flight schools and planes using it, creating a safety risk.

Flight school, training operations shouldn't be happening over densely-populated residential areas, he said. If the traffic was decreased, you would have less noise, and you'd have a safer airport.

Denver7 has been following the back-and-forth between RMMA and the surrounding community for years. Read our previous coverage below:

When asked about the idea of decreasing traffic at the airport, Cowell said, I dont see it being possible.

The airport is not going to go away. It provides a tremendous economic impact to the area, a lot of jobs are there, he said. What is realistic is for both parties you know, all of the people living around the airport area, as well as the operators at the airport to work together to come to decrease noise, for pilots to become more safety aware, and the instructors to become more safety aware, and for the FAA to also be proactive in helping to promote safety at that airport. And I think those three combined will lead to a safer and quieter environment.

The airport is now conducting an FAA-backed Part 150 Study, allowing community focus groups to look into the noise issue for surrounding communities and identify possible solutions. Lacis called it a step in the right direction, but it's not the entire solution.

The solution is touch-and-go operations over densely populated areas need to stop, he said.

DENVER Xcel Energy, along with two telecommunications companies, has agreed to settle a lawsuit involving "virtually all" of the thousands of people and companies impacted by the devastating Marshall Fire in 2021, the company said.

The energy provider along with telecommunications companies Qwest Corporation and Teleport Communications America, LLC reached agreements in principle, Xcel Energy announced in a press release on Wednesday. Once the settlement is finalized, it will resolve all claims. The company said it expects to pay about $640 million related to these settlements.

READ MORE: All Denver7 coverage of the Marshall Fire and the aftermath

One of the many attorneys representing plaintiffs in this case also confirmed this settlement to Denver7, but did not provide any further comment. Another attorney representing some of the plaintiffs told Denver7 a number of them have "definitely have not settled," however, he added he is not at liberty to discuss further.

Jury selection for a civil trial was expected to start this week.

The Denver Post was the first to break the news on Wednesday.

In September 2023, a judge agreed to consolidate several lawsuits against Xcel Energy, representing hundreds of survivors, into one case.

The fast-moving fire in Boulder County was reported around 11 a.m. on Thursday, Dec. 30, 2021 amid exceptionally dry conditions. The blaze, fueled by hurricane-force winds and dry fuels, ran east for 6,000-plus acres, destroying more than 1,000 homes and businesses in Superior, Louisville and unincorporated Boulder County. More than 35,000 people were evacuated. Two people Edna Nadine Turnbull, 91, and Robert Sharpe, 69 died. An estimated 1,000 pets also perished.

The Marshall Fire quickly became the most destructive fire in Colorado history, with about $2 billion in losses.

An investigation by the Boulder County Sheriff's Office found that the devastating fire began as two separate blazes the first was likely sparked by a resident's buried fire from about a week prior and the second likely began as a result of a disconnected Xcel Energy power line. After examining Xcel Energy power lines after the fire, investigators found that the line had disconnected from a cross arm and was hanging low enough to touch a support brace. After the line broke, smoke and flames were seen near the base of that power pole, the sheriff's office said. The Boulder County District Attorney said based on the extensive investigation, no criminal charges were appropriate.

Watch the full 2023 press conference on the origin and cause of the Marshall Fire in the video below.

However, Xcel Energy said on Wednesday that all plaintiffs in this litigation, which includes Boulder County, have "abandoned and directly repudiated the theory of Xcels involvement in starting the Trailhead Ignition that was previously put forth by Boulder County," a trial brief document reads.

Instead, the plaintiffs have a new theory, the document reads: "A loose piece of stainless steel lashing wire on a telecommunications line owned by Teleport (a subsidiary of AT&T) allegedly swung up and contacted Xcels powerline."

Xcel Energy said this new theory "will fare no better at trial" than the original civil case against the company, stressing that a group called Twelve Tribes was responsible. The Twelve Tribes property is where the buried fire reignited and was the other cause of the Marshall Fire listed by the sheriff's office.

The settlement does not mean they are admitting any fault or wrongdoing in connection with the fire.

Despite our conviction that PSCo (Public Service Company of Colorado) equipment did not cause the Marshall Fire or plaintiffs damages, we have always been open to a resolution that properly accounts for the strong defenses we have to these claims," said Bob Frenzel, chairman, president and CEO of Xcel Energy on Wednesday. "In resolving all liability from the claims, this settlement reinforces our longstanding commitment to supporting the communities we serve. We recognize that the fire and its aftermath have been difficult and painful for many, and we hope that our and the telecom defendants contributions in todays settlement can bring some closure for the community.

In an interview with Denver7 Chief Investigator Tony Kovaleski, Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty said he hopes the settlement will help people "continue to recover and rebuild."

"Having been the district attorney since 2018 and then during the Marshall Fire and since then, it's been incredible to see victims and community members rallying around each other and rebuilding and recovering, but there's still so much trauma and financial loss for the people who are impacted by the Marshall Fire," he said. "I've been to so many community events and spoken with so many people, including people that I work with, who were impacted by the Marshall Fire, and it's impacted their lives for so long. And I think it'll stay with them forever. So, I think any possible settlement will hopefully allow for those impacted to move forward with their lives and continue to rebuild their lives and also their homes."

Watch Denver7 Chief Investigator Tony Kovaleski's full interview with the district attorney, where he asked Dougherty for his reaction to the settlement.

Kovaleski asked if money can truly fix what happened, and Dougherty responded, "No, of course not," especially for those who lost pets and loved ones. But it will help a great deal of people, especially those who were under-insured and having difficulty rebuilding, he said.

In the wake of Xcel's announcement, Denver7 spoke with Della Gibson, a Superior woman who lost her home in the Marshall Fire.

"I think we can move forward now, just live our lives," said Gibson. "You know, it's a new beginning."

In March 2023, our team was there when crews used a crane to drop in her new prefabricated home in Old Town Superior.

"It was a little mining community before," said Gibson. "Now, we have all these big, beautiful homes, but like I said, it's a new beginning, so it's nice; it's all what we make of it now."

Superior Mayor Mark Lacis echoed that sentiment in an interview on Wednesday.

"What this does is it provides closure, it provides certainty, and saves people the time, money and expense of having to sit through that trial, go through all the emotions of hearing all the evidence," Lacis said.

KK DuVivier, professor at the University of Denver's Sturm College of Law, agreed.

"It still might not cover everything for people, but they'll get something which is good," she said. "And they don't have to go through the trauma of the trial and reliving all of the testimony."

DuVivier also told Denver7 she wasn't surprised the energy provider decided to settle instead of going to trial.

"They don't want a Boulder jury to make a finding that they are responsible, right?" she said.

SUPERIOR, Colo. The Town of Superior is officially planning a Marshall Fire remembrance site in an open space near the Oerman-Roche Trailhead off of McCaslin Boulevard.

Fueled by high winds, the fire started near that spot on December 30, 2021. It spread quickly, killing two people and destroying hundreds of homes.

This was an important event, Andrew Vaughan, chair of Superiors Cultural Arts & Public Spaces (CAPS) Committee, told Denver7 Tuesday. It doesn't define the town, but is a significant part of our history, and we'd like to have a place to remember and contemplate.

Superior is taking contractor proposals for that place, now through Aug. 12.

Denver7 spoke with Vaughan two years ago, when public outreach began. Town officials spent that time, according to Vaughan, conducting in-person meetings and two large surveys, asking residents if they wanted a remembrance site or memorial, and what they wanted it to look like.

The town told us loud and clear that they wanted some kind of remembrance for the Marshall Fire, Vaughan said, explaining that the trailhead site is ideal, in part, because residents expressed interest in it in the surveys.

It has a view of original town, which is where a lot of the impact in the town was, Vaughan added. It has a view of the grasslands, which is where the fire came from. And it is also both a shared place with parking, where this can be accessible, but it's also not right in anybody's backyard.

The site is set, but there are still unknowns.

We really don't know what this is going to cost, Vaughan said. We're going to see what kind of ideas people have for us, and then fundraise accordingly.

The towns Request for Qualifications shows it is seeking a place to gather, but also encouraging applications for a space to commemorate the hundreds of pets lost in the fire, as well as a dispersed component near the gathering place that might consider inputs such as: residences and other structures lost; specific acts of heroism or bravery; statistics of damage, loss, evacuation, recovery, support, outreach; notable individuals; geography and scope of the fire; event timeline; etc.

I think it should be what everyone individually needs, Vaughan said. We make a very open, accepting place for people to gather or reflect in solo. You know, we'll get the sunset, we'll get the view, and I think people can come here and let it mean whatever they need it to mean.

Vaughan also said the communitys response encouraged the use of the word "remembrance" for the site, rather than "memorial."

Memorial tends to imply death and destruction, he said. That's not the point here. The point is to remember and to move on.

Vaughan hopes to see a remembrance in place by the fires fifth anniversary, which is Dec. 30, 2026.

Ryan Kohler and his home survived the Marshall Fire, but he remembers the chaos surrounding it and the community shining through it.

Literally within hours, people were giving neighbors clothing, offering rides, he recalled.

Kohler, head coach of the Monarch High School mountain bike team, said hes pleased to hear there will be a site to remember how the fire changed the town and brought neighbors together.

Just carrying that forward and remembering that like we are all connected as a community, he said. And just because we're back in our houses individually those are still our neighbors out there.

MORE COVERAGE: Denver7 Gives - Helping the community after the Marshall Fire

Jalah from Superior writes,

One of the most frustrating parts of any commute is having to wait at a traffic signal when no one else is going the other way. When I drove the corridor, I noticed the same thing as you did. I never had a good continuous flow having to stop and then go and then stopping again, and I drove it several times outside of the morning rush.

I posed your question separately to the Broomfield and Superior public works departments. Broomfield told me the city does coordinate with Superior on paving and striping of Coalton Road, but the traffic signal timing is not necessarily coordinated with each other.

The City of Broomfield told me the way it has the Coalton Road/Flatiron Crossing signals set up is they are programmed to coordinate flow along Coalton/Flatiron. This means the timing prioritizes those roadways. The Town of Superior told me it uses a combination of video detection, radar, loops, and time-based schedules at its Coalton Road intersections depending on how they are used in different directions, at different times of day, on different days of the week.

MORE: Read more traffic issues driving people crazy

Broomfield said there are other factors that can impact this signal coordination. While the city uses a combination of video detection, radar detection and induction loops along Flatiron Crossing, Broomfield told me the signals are programmed offsets to best allow traffic flow between the Broomfield signals.

This factors in directional traffic and cross street traffic so it is sometimes difficult to get this perfect, but traffic simulation models, like SYNCHRO traffic, that we utilize during design, can optimize this for us, the City of Broomfield said.

The Cubic Corporation created a software program called Synchro Studio that empowers traffic engineers and transportation planners to design and optimize traffic signals, corridors and networks to improve mobility, reduce congestion and enhance safety.

Public Works and Utilities Program Supervisor for the Town of Superior Alex Bullen told me, the department will go out and monitor this important corridor fairly frequently, doing traffic counts and field observations.

This corridor is of particular interest for several reasons it is crossed frequently by people accessing schools/pools/parks/trails/retail, the traffic patterns changed significantly during COVID but have started bouncing back in the last few years," Bullen said. "That plus the general industry move towards protected lefts using a new type of signal head called a 4-section (also known as FYA or flashing yellow arrow), advanced detection (as opposed to stop bar detection) is becoming more affordable, and the public demand is growing for more comfort while crossing the street as a pedestrian as well as more visibility for aging eyeballs so weve been giving this area quite a bit of attention with upgrades to the hardware and adjustments to the timing."

Broomfield said it last completed a full retiming of the signals on Coalton/Flatiron in October/November of 2023. The city does quarterly and annual inspections on all signals to confirm that they are operating correctly and maintenance activities are performed as needed. The city said retiming of traffic signals every five years is generally considered good engineering practice but may be done sooner if there are roadway changes or new developments that significantly alter traffic flow.

Theres a lot of side street traffic there, so if the minimum greens are low on the coordinated corridor then youll hit reds, Bullen said. Combine that with programmed delays, pedestrian crossing guidelines it is surprisingly complex when you peek under the hood.

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BOULDER COUNTY, Colo. An unhoused man who thought he had extinguished a cigarette was arrested Thursday evening after allegedly starting a small grass fire in the Town of Superior.

Deputies with the Boulder County Sheriffs Office said they responded to the area of mile marker 45 of US 36 in unincorporated Boulder County to a report of a small grass fire.

The grass fire was between the highway and the Saddlebrooke at Rock Creek complex.

The fire was determined to be approximately .25-acres in size, according to personnel from the sheriffs office and Mountain View Fire Rescue.

The investigation determined that an unhoused person living in a tent had been smoking and thought he had extinguished his cigarette, however it lit the grass on fire near his campsite, fire officials said.

The man was identified as 37-year-old Alexander Seidel. He was subsequently arrested and booked into the Boulder County Jail on one count of fourth-degree arson, a Class 5 felony.

The Scripps National Spelling Bee is a moment years in the making for Blanche Li, who just wrapped up eighth grade in Colorado.

The event is the culmination of a dream she has held on to since fourth grade. Blanches living room features a trophy that started her Spelling Bee goals.

This is the one I got in fourth grade for the 2021 regional, Blanche said, reminiscing about her first win.

Now, her sights are set on adding a new trophy to her collection, one that would outshine them all.

Nothing is like as invigorating as the Spelling Bee because theres always an audience for every single word, Blanche explained.

She is competing this week, hoping to achieve a goal thats eluded her for years now since elementary school.

I set it as my goal that day to win again, and I wanted to go back and actually compete in D.C., Blanche said. In fifth grade, sixth grade and seventh grade, I didnt make it out of the regional bee.

To prepare, she practices every day with a book that shows signs of wear and tear from years of use. She showed us her process as she spelled out "diatreme," the word that helped her secure her spot at the national competition. During the bee, she said in about 90 seconds, she can demonstrate her skills. In that brief time, she can dissect a words root, ask for alternate meanings and reason her way to the correct spelling.

It's like, pretty cool to show off to your peers, Blanche said.

Blanches passions go beyond spelling. She plays the clarinet, piano, and saxophone, and enjoys playing frisbee.

Blanche is headed to the semi-finals, after spelling lastage correctly Tuesday morning.

You can watch the semi-finals tonight at 6 p.m. Mountain Time on Scripss News on streaming and on-air our sister channel, Ion Television.

SUPERIOR, Colo. A group of Marshall Fire victims who live in the Sagamore neighborhood in Superior are speaking out against a new build on the block that is raising several concerns.

Neighbors contacted Denver7 claiming the builders for the new home are not being required to follow the same zoning laws and building codes that they were facing when rebuilding.

Matteo Rebeschini, a Marshall Fire victim who lives near the new house, said the home is causing negative impacts for those around it because the height and setback restrictions are not being met.

"Think about the neighboring properties, right? The shade they get," he said. "Also, for the neighbors that live across the street, they built and designed a house that was engineered thinking about solar gains that they will get from the sun, assuming the maximum height they will get from the house in the front, and now they find themselves with the house that is much closer to the street, providing more shade than it should."

Diana Leiker, who also lives near the new home, said all of the other houses in the neighborhood are the same height and width, except for this new one.

Leiker said they've expressed their concerns to the town but have not received much of a response.

"It's concerning. Setbacks really are here to protect all of us, not just one individual," she said. "With the wildfire risk we have in this area, you don't want to minimize like that space you have between houses, you know, the setbacks are there to help even with construction, right? If you build all the way up to your property line, it's going to be really hard not to do damage to your neighbor."

Denver7 took their concerns directly to town officials.

A spokesperson with the Town of Superior said the home was provided an accommodation for ADA accessibility for an elevator that exceeds the maximum height.

They said the building permit that was reviewed and approved by the town meets the remainder of the standards within the Sagamore regulations. The spokesperson added that if they were to find that they constructed the home out of compliance with those approved plans, the town would expect any errors to be corrected.

According to town officials, the accessibility accommodation for the elevator allowed for approximately six feet of additional height and said that the remainder of the home is within the height regulations.

They added that they understand that homeowners were surprised by this home and the ADA accessibility accommodation provided to the homeowner. They said those decisions are made without public input, out of consideration for federal laws on accessibility and medical privacy. 

Additionally, Denver7 reporter Kristian Lopez spoke directly with the homeowner, who declined to provide an on-camera interview. The homeowner said she and her husband followed the town's specifications. She said their plans were approved right away and their home is expected to be finished in October.

Neighbors said they will keep fighting this until the town listens to their concerns.

"We're just asking them to follow procedure and to go ahead and stop work and give us a chance to talk about this in an open public hearing, and then work to bring this house back into compliance and hopefully remedy the issues and the damage they've done to their adjacent neighbors," Leiker added.

The construction of the home will continue since it was already given the town's approval.

Hundreds of people turned out on Saturday morning to protest Tesla CEO Elon Musk and his actions at the Department of Government Efficiency outside the Tesla dealership in Superior.

Protesters lined the streets outside the dealership, waving signs and flags and chanting as cars drove by the busy intersection.

It's my responsibility as a citizen to do what I am doing now. It is our responsibility to stand up for our country, said demonstrator Vicky Harner.

Its part of the #TeslaTakedown protests happening across the country in recent days, urging people to sell their vehicles and dump their stock as CEO Elon Musk faces backlash over his close involvement with the Trump administration.

We obviously have no issue with Tesla employees, folks that are driving Teslas. It's specific because the CEO of Tesla is engaging in these activities. He is leading them. He is decimating our federal workforces, said protester Barbara Kish.

Musk is spearheading the Department of Government EfficiencyDOGE for shortin an effort to curb wasteful government spending.

It's resulted in thousands of federal workers across multiple federal agencies losing their jobs.

The next round of potential layoffs is coming from the U.S. Department Of Education.

An email from the agency's top human resources official sent on Friday offered many of its employees a buyout of up to $25,000.

The email says the offer is in advance of a "very significant reduction in force."

The president says a longer-term goal is eliminating the Department of Education.

With all the people that they're firing, there's going to be ramifications, said another protester.

Folks at the demonstration say protests like this one are just the beginning of what they call a movement to stand up for democracy.

It's very encouraging. I believe it shows that we have people in our community who are very, very concerned about what is going on and that there's a need for us to make our voices heard. And it's very, very inspiring, said Kish.

Elon Musk has said numerous times that he believes DOGE's work is extremely important because the federal government is too large, wasteful, and inefficient.

With the national debt now more than $36 trillion, he believes cutting the size of government can help reduce that debt.

Before the administration entered office, Musk claimed he could save the government $2 trillion, but he later backed down on that claim.

President Donad Trump continues to back the billionaire CEO, and told reporters that Musk is eliminating fraud and corruption inside the federal government.

SUPERIOR, Colo. This December will mark four years since the devastating and historic Marshall Fire tore through Boulder County, killing two people and destroying more than 1,000 homes.

One of the houses burned that day was Aadi Sobti's childhood home.

I have a lot of good memories there. I moved to that home when I was... eight months old, and I'd been living there my entire life," Sobti said.

Denver7 met with Sobti in Superior, where his family has since rebuilt their home.

In the moment, you've lost your home," Sobti said. "There were many weeks where I just cried, and I was like, 'Why me?'

He was only 13 years old when his home burned at the end of 2021. Now, at 16, Sobti has taken that pain and transformed it into a solution.

Change must happen in order to make sure something like this never happens again," Sobti said. People in my community were kind of like, after the fire, were paranoid over the fact that a fire might spring up any time.

On a computer in his bedroom, Sobti developed Fire Watch, an app designed to help users prepare for a wildfire and know the probability of one occurring on any given day in any given location.

On a big picture level, it's a system where people can be sure that there is no fire, or if there is a fire, they are aware and they are ready for that," the teen explained. "It also has a section of what to do in case they encounter a fire.

Sobti dedicated hours of his time to the app, which will allow users to plug in the specific location they are interested in watching. It can also show users active fires around the globe.

My goal was to create change, but the idea of creating an app came from the Congressional App Challenge, and there was a lot of support in my community over creating this app, which was great," he said.

Sobti entered Fire Watch into the 2024 Congressional App Challenge, which is open to middle and high school students. Sobti's work was recognized in Congressman Joe Neguse's district.

More than 12,000 students across the country participated in the challenge.

Fire Watch is not in the app store yet. Sobti is working to submit it, and then it must be reviewed by Apple to ensure the app meets their requirements.

In addition to Sobti's app, five other Colorado students were recognized for their work.

SUPERIOR, Colo. Three years since the Marshall Fire damaged or destroyed thousands of homes, communities have learned how vital a diverse approach to fire mitigation is.

The Town of Superior has enlisted the help of Goat Bros and its team of 300 goats to cut down on brush this winter.

Jordan Sarazen started Goat Bros five years ago, and his business has spread to a number of communities along the Front Range.

Weve got 300 goats here that we use for holistic land management, he said, standing inside Superiors Community Park. They're clearing up all this dry tinder, dead vegetation, and it's going through their digestive system and then coming out through the form of manure.

As the goats graze, they not only consume vast amounts of flammable materials but also help enrich the soil.

During this time of year is really great because their urine and manure is really high in nitrogen, Sarazen said. They're fertilizing the ground. They're trampling it into the ground, working it in, feeding that ecosystem, and all around just recycling that organic matter that promotes the right environment for native vegetation to come back healthy and strong.

Summer months bring much more vegetation, but those plants are green and not very flammable. In the winter, the plants are much more dry and more susceptible to ignition.

This group of goats will spend just under three months at Community Park, clearing out 60 acres of land and mitigating the fire risk until spring when the plants start to grow again.

The stakes are high for a community that knows how a wildfire can strike at any time of year, even in the middle of winter. Homes overlooking the goats at Community Park had to be rebuilt after they were destroyed in the Marshall Fire, and residents have welcomed the goats with open arms.

Weve had several community members come over and tell us that they enjoy having the goats here, said Sarazen. Theyre excited to see something in the community thats proactive instead of reactive.

SUPERIOR, Colo. Over the past three years, Kevin McCormack has spent time restoring his artwork that was destroyed in the Marshall Fire.

The 2021 fire damaged or destroyed more than 1,000 homes and businesses, leaving the community in immense pain and suffering. McCormack found a way to bring his creativity back to life.

"All the work that I had a record of I documented and digitized was on the computer," McCormack said.

He used the digitally scanned files to reimagine his original work and found a new way to share his creations by printing pieces onto different materials like glass and metal.

"Much of the original work was on paper, right, or canvas. So when I was choosing materials for my project, the restoration of the art, I wanted something that would be permanent or more permanent or more durable," McCormack explained. "So I chose metal, which is aluminum in this case because I just thought it was an answer to that problem of permanence."

Hear McCormack explain his process in the video player below:

Now, his work is on display at Arts Off Center, a new gallery featuring the work of local artists. Sherry Smith, the owner of Arts Off Center, described the need for a space where artists could gather in the community and find comfort following the fire.

"Well, we thought there was a need for a space like this in Superior, and that there were so many Superior local artists. Like, we have nine artists now, [and] seven of them are residents of Superior," explained Smith. "So we feel like that's important for our Superior artists to have a voice in Superior and build a little artist community where they can come and hang out, share ideas."

Looking out at the gallery, Smith described the incredible transformation of the space, which is now filled with bright colors and showcases the extraordinary talents of the local artists.

"This building was a victim of the fire, and there was still soot inside the doors when I walked in and cleaned up. And it's kind of like a phoenix going from fire damage to colorful and warm and happy," Smith said.

The same message can be seen in McCormack's work, as his originals have risen from the ashes and turned into a different form but with the same intention and soul.

"So for instance, this piece is called 'The Phoenix,' and it epitomizes the myth of rising from the ashes, you know, and this is exactly what has happened in terms of my art and this gallery in general. This is the living phoenix," said McCormack. "So that is the full circle as embodied through the images."

The grand opening of Arts Off Center, located at 405 Center Drive, will be on Jan. 18. Smith said there still is plenty of space for 2D and 3D artists. Interested artists can email info@artsoffcenter.org for inquiries.

BOULDER COUNTY, Colo. An Aurora contractor was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Friday after he pleaded guilty to stealing money from Marshall Fire victims in unincorporated Boulder County.

Leona Scott was accused of accepting more than $1.3 million from four families whose homes were either damaged or destroyed in the fire but not completing the construction work.

He entered into a separate contract with each of the four families, took their money, but did not use their money as intended, the Boulder County Sheriff's Office said in a news release. In addition, he was not properly licensed to build homes in Boulder County.

Scott was arrested for theft, a Class 2 felony because the value was $1 million or more. He pleaded guilty in October to theft, a Class 3 felony, according to the Boulder County District Attorney's Office.

Scott was sentenced on Friday to 10 years in prison. The judge gave him credit for 185 days already served.

The DA's office said Scott agreed to pay $1,738,770.05 in restitution.

This defendant preyed upon, and took advantage of, people who were directly impacted by the Marshall Fire. His theft made their suffering worse, at a time when they needed help the most. So, I really appreciate the work of the Sheriffs Office and the prosecution team in securing this felony conviction and restitution. We will have an additional statement after the Court imposes the sentence," Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty said in a statement.

SUPERIOR, Colo. Nearly three years since the Marshall Fire tore through Boulder County, killing two people and destroying over 1,000 homes, the pain of that dreadful December day is still fresh in the minds of those who lost everything.

An estimated 1,000 pets died in the fire after many were unable to be rescued.

Right after the Marshall Fire, work began on an app that aims to support pet owners in case of an emergency by connecting them with trusted contacts to help evacuate their furry family members.

Mike Neustedter lives in Original Town Superior with his family. They have rebuilt their home since the fire but are missing a key part of their household their 11-year-old cat, Kobe.

"Kobe was my wife's cat, and he was a feral cat that she rescued off the streets in Missouri. And she had him when she graduated college, and I met my wife shortly after that," said Neustedter. "We introduced a new dog to him, and we introduced a 1-year-old to him, and so he kind of got to see our family grow, and he was kind of that one stable thing. My wife and my life at the time of the fire, we had a lot of change. So he was more than just a cat.

Neustedter said Kobe was initially skeptical of him, but over the years, the cat grew fond of him.

"Every single night he would sleep on my chest or sleep in between my legs," Neustedter said. The big void when you're like, 'He's not here anymore,' because that little weight isn't on your body anymore when you sleep.

The family took road trips together, and Kobe always tagged along, loving to look out the window as they drove. Over the holidays in 2021 was one of the only times Kobe was left at home with a pet sitter.

December 30 is burned in my mind, and I think it always will be," Neustedter said. Oh my gosh, is my house going to be burned down? Is Kobe going to be in it? Is he going to be stuck?"

The pet sitter was running an errand in nearby Louisville when the fire darted toward Superior. They were unable to make their way back to Original Town because of all the traffic and road closures.

Ultimately, no one was able to get to Kobe in Neustedter's home.

Eventually, a bloodhound was brought to Neustedter's property, which searched for missing pets.

The dog came around, and he sniffed our property, and he stopped right in the spot where, like, we just knew [Kobe] was going to be, which was in our bed," said Neustedter. "He passed away cuddled up on the bed, and he was in his favorite spot. So that kind of gave us some closure.

The pain of losing a beloved pet was felt throughout Boulder County. Dave Crawford, co-founder and executive director of Animal Help Now, wanted to do something about it.

Crawford and his team developed a new pet evacuation app after the Marshall Fire called Pet Help & Rescue (PHaR). So far, around 700 users have downloaded the app, but Crawford hopes to reach more people.

Basically, it's a neighbors-based messaging app that allows users to quickly and effectively evacuate neighborhood animals who are home alone when disasters threaten and strike," Crawford explained. What you do is you download the app, you enter a little information on yourself, your contact information. And then you enter information on your animals, photographs, descriptions, likely hiding places, where their meds are, where their go bags are, etc.

Next, Crawford said users add their trusted contacts to the app. Hopefully, some of those are neighbors who could help quickly in the event of an emergency.

If you're gone someday and a disaster threatens your area, your neighborhood, you open the app, you ask for emergency help. It generates a message automatically from all the information that you've already provided, and then it sends it to your contacts, your PHaR contacts," said Crawford. "All that communication happens within the app so that you can ignore all of the other phone calls, texts, emails that you're getting from family and friends wondering if you're okay, and you can focus on what's most important to you at that moment, which is getting your animals out to safety.

Information on how to enter a user's home will only be given to trusted contacts, Crawford said.

The goal is to add another option for extreme emergencies like the Marshall Fire.

"If we know things are going to really go south, alert everybody in the neighborhood who uses the PHaR app, whether you know them or not. Because when push comes to shove, as it did with the Marshall Fire, it was necessary to allow anybody to do anything to get to your animals," said Crawford. It's the worst-case scenario, but it's one we want to allow for.

There's also a non-emergent option, for instances where a pet may need to be fed or taken outside.

Crawford said they are working with a handful of government agencies, hoping to partner with them in emergency situations.

"If an animal can't be evacuated, then we want to alert first responders to the fact that an animal is in that home and needs to be rescued. So, that's another feature that we're we have on tap for 2025," said Crawford.

Helping create this app was therapeutic for Crawford, who also lost his home in the Marshall Fire.

It's still going on. I mean, everybody is still dealing with this in one way or another. Things will never be the same," said Crawford.

Neustedter hopes PHaR saves other pets in the future, knowing just how hard it was to lose Kobe in the Marshall Fire.

In Colorado, these wildfires are going to hit you like that, and you're not going to have time to react. You're not going to have time to think clearly. And what this app does is it allows you to not have to think. The app thinks for you," said Neustedter. "I think that's the beauty of it.

DENVER Attorneys representing hundreds of Marshall Fire victims have accused Xcel Energy of concealing photos that reportedly show the company's equipment near the fire's origin.

A mass action lawsuit was filed in June 2023 accusing the energy company of sparking the most destructive fire in Colorado history. The Boulder County Sheriff's Office concluded that a disconnected Xcel Energy power line played a role in the fire's origin, but Xcel has repeatedly denied those claims.

Attorneys representing Marshall Fire victims filed a motion on Dec. 6 asking the court to compel Xcel to turn over 17,500 documents, including 3,853 photographs created two weeks after the fire.

Read the full motion below:

After the Marshall Fire, Xcel sent out its claims investigator, and this individual went to the scene, took photographs, documented evidence. And then afterward, Xcel repaired the lines at issue. Now what we want is show us what was happening that day, said Ali Moghaddas, an attorney with Edelson PC. Show us the evidence before you went in and changed the scene because that's going to be instrumental in proving their liability.

Xcel Energy said the documents are being withheld due to attorney-client privilege. A company spokesperson said they plan to fully respond to the motion in the coming weeks.

The mandatory shelter-in-place order for western Superior lifted after nearly two hours Monday morning, the Boulder County Sheriff's Office said. The all clear was given and everyone can return to normal activities.

The alert was first issued after a person of interest, a man wearing a white shirt, jeans and a backpack, ran from police.

The Boulder County Sheriff's Office recommended people living in the area of S 76th St. and Sycamore Street, lock exterior doors and windows.

Report any suspicious activity to the non-emergency line at 303-441-4444 x2. But anyone who's in danger or has a visual on someone matching the description were asked to call 911.

SUPERIOR, Colo. Its moving day for the Rebeschini-Glover family after waiting nearly three years to come back home after the Marshall Fire tore through their neighborhood on Dec. 30, 2021.

Finally moving in. What is it 930 something days? said Mel Glover, as she roughly calculated the number of days since the Marshall Fire destroyed 1,084 homes, including every single home in Superiors Sagamore subdivision.

Mel was trying to get home but was stuck on US 36, as her husband, Matteo, and their two kids were trying to get out.

If we didnt have this room, they would be dead, Mel said while standing in the familys new mudroom.

The mudroom in the house they lost was the only part of the house built out of brick and stone, which saved the family that day. The rest of the home was wood-framed and went up in flames quickly during the wildfire.

That old mudroom inspired the family to build what is now a new home constructed entirely of blocks and brick.

This is a lime slurry, Mel explained while running her hand across the wall. Its like painting with oatmeal.

The Rebeschinis used what are known as EcoBlox to construct a modern-day fortress if you will.

Were very proud because of the type of construction, the type of walls that we use, Matteo Rebeschini said.

A home built to withstand fire, ice and just about anything else Mother Nature may throw their way.

We were determined to find what is the best type of materials we can use to feel safe in the house, Matteo said.

What they found was a small company just 30 miles down the road.

I call this the block yard, said Lisa Morey, owner of Nova Terra. This is the facility. This is where the sausage is made. We make blocks. Pure and simple.

Nova Terra uses leftover materials from a nearby rock quarry to mold blocks used for building earth homes.

Its a composition of sand and clay and there is some small aggregate in there, Morey said, as she sifted some of the sand through her hand.

We add a small amount of water and then that material is conveyed to the press, she said. I call them EcoBlox. I add a small percentage of lime and then hydrate the material and then compress it under 2,000 PSI of pressure.

And its a building material that dates back thousands of years.

Even today it is estimated that 40% of the worlds population still builds out of earth, Morey said. Its been in constant use for 10,000 years. The walls of Jericho were excavated (in) 8,000 B.C. and it was seen to be adobe or mud bricks.

And Nova Terra is cranking the EcoBlox out with six homes currently under construction and another six projects in the works.

Nova Terra can produce about 1,000 blocks a day. In the Rebeschini, home they used roughly 15,000 EcoBlox, so it took about two weeks to produce the material to build that house.

While we might be 15% more than a framed home, were going to be saving in energy costs, Morey said. Were going to build a more durable home.

Experts estimate the cost of building an energy efficient home in the Marshall Fire burn zone is anywhere from $50,000 to $100,000 more than a traditional stick build.

But experts say the payoff is worth it.

Oh the long-term benefit is ridiculous, said one construction worker. These homes use 5% the energy of a normal home.

The ERV system circulates fresh air around the house, Mel said. And this is what all the efficient houses and passive houses have in them.

The EcoBlox combined with Alpen windows make the environment of the home that is nearly air tight and smoke tight. A home built to withstand the test of time.

I like to say (the blocks) will last 1,000 years, come find me in 900 if Im wrong, Morey laughed.

We tried to prove a point really, that you can build a house in a cookie-cutter neighborhood that looks like a cookie-cutter home, but its not, Mel said. When you think about earth homes, people think about earth ships and crazy, weird houses and not many people want to live in a house like that. So, we wanted to build a house that blended in with regular American homes.

SUPERIOR, Colo. With searing heat settling in over metro Denver and the Colorado front range through the weekend, the fire danger is elevated.

The threat of wildfire has those rebuilding from the Marshall Fire a bit on edge.

There is some PTSD associated with the fire, said Philip Rosenberg-Watt, who is now rebuilding after his home in Superior burned down during the Marshall Fire.

His rebuild might not look like a traditional home construction project, which is exactly how Rosenberg-Watt intended it.

It was long and painful to come up with a design, he said. We wanted to build a place that wouldnt burn down again, with any luck.

His new home in Superior is being built by Constructive Alternatives, a Colorado-based company that specializes in energy efficient, fire-resistant construction.

Its called an ICF product, so its like insulated concrete forms, said Lucas Picard whose father founded Constructive Alternatives. The blocks we use are cool. Theyre pretty much like adult Legos in my mind.

Constructive Alternatives has now built about 10 homes in Colorado.

Weve been working with this product for years and years and years and now its finally starting to come more around, Picard said. And people are getting interested in it; its getting better promoted.

We had to think outside of the box and find designers who could do that, said Rosenberg-Watt. They take Styrofoam and chop it up and recycle it and put it into forms with cement and they make these blocks.

Rosenberg-Watt believes the extreme heat and fire danger in the forecast this weekend help to punctuate the point of building a home like this.

Were trying to build it for any kind of catastrophe we can imagine, Rosenberg-Watt said. This house and the building materials, in particular, are going to be very resilient, theyre going to be really high performing; So, were going to spend very little on our energy heating and cooling bills.

A fortress of sorts.

And his windows are recessed in the back and then theres a roll system, a shutter system that will actually drop down if this actually senses a fire, said Daniel Ghost Shea. Itll pretty much lock itself up.

Hes building a pretty bomber thing over here, Picard said.

Built to last, built to save money, and built to survive catastrophic situations.

Weve had some buildings go through fires and become stronger, Picard said. In the long run, its going to pay for itself, many times over, said Rosenberg-Watt.

SUPERIOR, Colo. With warmer-than-normal temperatures at the start of this summer in Colorado, fire officials are warning residents of potential fire dangers ahead of the 4th of July.

Data from the US Drought Monitor showed that five more Colorado counties are experiencing abnormally dry conditions compared to last week. The uptick in grilling and fireworks use due to holiday celebrations could create more risk.

"It seems like every 4th of July, there's always somewhere in the country that a firework went awry," said Patrick Maynes with Mountain View Fire Rescue.

Maynes said current conditions are not dangerous but cautioned that the situation could change as temperatures rise this week. '

"We haven't seen much of that moisture this summer," said Maynes.

If you're family plans on lighting fireworks this week, fire officials recommend having a fire extinguisher or a bucket of water nearby. Additionally they say not to light fireworks off in an area near grass or vegetation.

"Things are probably looking favorable now, but that could change very rapidly," said Maynes.

SUPERIOR, Colo. An Aurora man was arrested for allegedly stealing $150,000 worth of supplies and equipment from a construction site in Superior in April.

The burglary happened over the weekend of April 13 at a construction site located at 2250 Main Street, according to the Boulder County Sheriff's Office.

Jay Dee Grow, 45, was arrested in Aurora Wednesday for theft (Class 3 felony), burglary (Class 5 felony), criminal mischief and criminal trespass. He was transferred to the Boulder County Jail Thursday.

Grow allegedly stole construction supplies and equipment valued at $150,000. He also allegedly committed $1,000 worth of criminal mischief.

The sheriff's office believes there could be additional victims. Anyone with information about Grow or the incident is asked to contact Detective Seifert at 720-564-7297 or rseifert@bouldercounty.gov and reference case number 24-01835.

LOUISVILLE, Colo. In the Marshall Fire burn zone, there are dozens of families now returning to their newly built homes every week. The wildfire destroyed more than 1,000 homes in Louisville and Superior back in December 2021. It remains the most destructive wildfire in Colorado history.

Among those newly built structures is one that stands out among the rest in Louisville, a passive home. The building standard not only emphasizes high energy efficiency, but it's also fire-resistant and enhances indoor comfort and sound insulation.

This is our first certified passive home, said Frank Wetenkamp with Living Craft Design and Build. Using lumber that is either wildland urban appliance class, a fire component or something like that, that's thick enough that you don't want it to break down easily. So, like this decking is actually a pressure-treated fire-resistant wooden material.

The family that built the home couldnt be more thrilled with their choice.

Along the road it was hard, said Casey Lombardo. Like, money was hard, everything was hard, and we kept asking, are we doing the right thing? Should we be doing this? Does it make sense? We always came back to if were going to do it, lets do it amazing. And I think its pretty amazing.

For Casey Lombardo, her husband, Kevin Lombardo, and their two boys, their journey to recovery begins on that fateful day back on December 30, 2021.

It looked like ... theres another wildfire somewhere, Casey Lombardo said. You know, I just totally dismissed it.

Thats when Kevin Lombardo decided to drive up to the ridge to take a look.

And I just kind of started shaking, Kevin Lombardo said of what he saw. I thought if its going to miss us, its going to be by this much.

And he came back down to the house, and he was like, 'Everybody get into the car now!' Casey Lombardo said. And I was like, Oh! We left about 15 minutes before the cops came down our neighborhood with a bullhorn saying, 'Get out now!'

It would be the last time they saw their house still standing.

I dont think it actually settled in for me until we came back to the lot, Casey Lombardo said. And I saw it and that was like a week later.

The Lombardos describe the months and weeks that followed as a fog, but then a light came on in the form of a webinar late one night that introduced them to passive building principals.

They talked a lot about the benefits of high-performance houses, Kevin Lombardo said. The benefits of building a passive house.

We were sold, Casey Lombardo said.

I didnt really care before that what we rebuilt, Kevin Lombardo said. After this webinar, I cared a lot.

Fast-forward to this spring and the Lombardos are now moving in.

Theyre a double-stud wall with a bunch of insulation, Casey Lombardo said as we toured the house with them. The house is really air-sealed.

The Lombardo's dream has become a reality.

Separating the garage from the thermal envelope of the rest of the house is really important because you cant achieve airtightness with a garage, said a representative with Shape Architecture, which worked with Living Craft on the home.

Intumescent vents allow air to move up behind the siding, Wetenkamp said. These homes are designed to use the minimum amount of energy possible. I think for us as builders, it's really exciting to be a part of something that's more cutting edge and innovative.

The home certainly sticks out from the crowd of new homes here in Louisville, with its metal siding and metal sunshades above every window.

There was this other neighboring builder in this neighborhood who stopped by and was like, What are you guys doing? Everything you're doing is so weird and why are you doing it? And I kind of tried to explain and he was just like, Well, I've never seen this. I've been doing this for 40 years and I've never seen it, explained Wetenkamps business partner, Cheryl Corsiglia.

The Lombardo's home uses one-third of the energy and electricity of the average home.

Everything about the house was designed to minimize the impact of future fires and be fire resistant, Kevin Lombardo said. Its a better home for people and the planet.

I think for us as builders, it's really exciting to be a part of something that's more cutting edge and innovative, you know, through our history of the company. We've always been interested in what's the next step and how can we do things better, Wetenkamp said.

Take a tour of the home with Denver7 in the video player below:

SUPERIOR, Colo. Boulder County and the Town of Superior have filed a lawsuit against neighboring Jefferson County over operations at the Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport (RMMA).

RMMA, owned by Jefferson County, has been the subject of concern from many residents for years due to its increasing traffic and noise along with its supply of leaded aviation gasoline. The lawsuit, filed Tuesday, demands an end to touch and go training flights in which training pilots repeatedly take off from the airport and circle nearby without stopping. The technique is blamed for excessive noise and lead risk.

No money is being sought in the lawsuit.

A Community Noise Roundtable was convened in 2021 to hear resident concerns and search for solutions, and RMMA pledged last year to expedite its transition from leaded fuel. However, Superior Mayor Mark Lacis told Denver7 the decision to file the lawsuit came after these collaborative pursuits with Jefferson County failed to provide the results his residents are pleading for.

Since 2019, theres been an increase of about 50 percent in terms of total operations They had 280,000 operations in 2023, and a large majority of those operations are these training operations where theyre just flying these touch-and-go patterns over Superior, Lacis said. That needs to stop. Its a public nuisance. Its impacting the ability for residents to sleep, to work, to open their windows, to just enjoy the quiet of their homes without disturbance. So that led us to the decision, ultimately, that we need to seek redress through the courts.

A spokesperson for Jefferson County told Denver7 in a statement that because RMMA is federally funded, it is subject to federal laws that govern issues such as fuel use and noise allowed.

It is not a legal option for the airport to mandate a reduction in those operations, said spokesperson Cassie Pearce in a statement. The County believes that the Community Noise Roundtable is a valuable venue for these discussions and will continue to work with community members to address their concerns where viable and legal options exist.

Lacis argued this response shows that Jefferson County is not taking ownership of the problem. The fact that an answer has not been found through the Community Noise Roundtable in the past three years shows that a new approach is needed, the mayor said.

Jefferson County cant just export the negative consequences at the airport, Lacis said. They cant dump their pollution, noise, lead, otherwise, on a neighborhood without consequences. They have to abate a public nuisance. So thats what were asking for.

You know, we understand that airports are important. Its important to have pilots. And you know, were not saying that this airport needs to close or they cant fly out of this airport. Were just saying that this unique, particular operation that causes a public nuisance shouldnt be occurring here.

Starbucks must reinstate two Colorado baristas who were "illegally" fired, a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) judge ruled.

The workers supported forming a union at the Colorado Starbucks stores where they worked, according to a news release from Starbucks Workers United.

Ryan Dinaro was fired from the Tremont Starbucks location in Denver, and Joseph Mathis was let go from the Academy store in Colorado Springs, the union's news release said.

Starbucks engaged in "objectionable conduct warranting setting aside the results" of a union vote at the Colorado Springs store, the union quoted from the NLRB ruling in its news release.

The judge ruled Starbucks must conduct a new election and give both employees their jobs back, as well as back pay and compensation for other expenses related to their unlawful termination, according to Starbucks Workers United.

There was a similar ruling made last year for a worker fired at a Superior Starbucks.

I am planning to return to Starbucks to fight for a contract because my coworkers deserve better, Dinaro said in the union's news release. They deserve stable hours so they can consistently keep healthcare and tuition. They deserve safety committees to remind management that attempted robbery, menacing, and assault on property is not normal, and security upgrades are desperately needed. They deserve a standard pay raise schedule so they don't need to beg management.

The NLRB also ordered the company to post a notice of workers' rights granted under federal law in the Tremont and Academy stores in Colorado, the news release said.

This judgment is part of a nationwide movement to unionize Starbucks stores in the U.S. with over 9,000 company employees involved, Starbucks Workers United said. Thousands of employees walked off the job last year, demanding better staffing and wages.

"We remain committed to better communicating with unions elected to represent our partners and are pursuing a path forward that would allow us to resume productive contract negotiations for our represented U.S. partners," Starbucks spokesperson Andrew Trull said in a statement from the company.

Starbucks said it reached out to Workers United President Lynne Fox in December of 2023 to move negotiations forward between the union and stores to finalize contracts for employees that both sides agreed to.

The company has also allocated a dedicated labor relations team to address the unionizing workers, Starbucks said in its statement.

BOULDER, Colo. No matter what came first the wind or fire hurricane-force gusts that blew for almost a day without stopping enabled the Marshall Fire to spread as far and quickly as it did on December 30, 2021, new research out of Boulder shows.

Eric James, a research physical scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Global Systems Lab, and Stan Benjamin, a senior research associate for the Cooperative Institute in Research and Environmental Science (CIRES), are two of the authors of a new research article that studied the windstorm behind the Marshall Fire. Their research began the night the fire started.

Our high-resolution NOAA National Weather Service Model, it was designed to be able to do the best possible job that we can now do for extreme weather events, especially localized severe weather events. We knew that the High-Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR) model was being used for this particular case that day back on Thursday, December the 30th. But we didn't quite know how, and how well it was handling that situation. So, we started looking into it right then," Benjamin said.

The research shows the Marshall Fire was driven by a strong downslope windstorm, and the intensity of the gusts was sustained for almost 11 hours. Data from NOAA shows winds ranged from 75 mph to 115 mph in the area that day.

It was important for the fire to get started. The winds had to get up there, you know, close to 100 miles an hour for those two ignition sources to occur. And then for that spread, you know, eastward across Boulder County and Superior and Louisville required that strong wind to occur over several hours," said Benjamin.

The two scientists agreed, after their research, that at its core, the Marshall Fire was a massive windstorm.

There's lots of other places in the US that get downslope windstorms, but maybe none with such a population density as here along the Front Range of Colorado," said James.

The research found the models on the day of the Marshall Fire were accurate, but that advancements in technology and new tools should allow for more time between the forecast and a predicted weather event.

When they saw [the wind gusts] hour after hour, that allowed them then to make a decision and issue a county-wide high wind warning, which was very important and resulted immediately in a fire ban across all Boulder County. Great," said Benjamin. To be able to better predict this large scale jet stream, had it been able to be predicted 50 miles further south from the next trip to over 24 hours ahead, probably would have improved the forecast. To be able to improve people's decision-making from weather data, in all these situations, almost every day, that's what our job is. Not just in the severe weather days, but certainly in those extreme days.

There are these catalyst events that occur every now and then. Sadly, it takes often a really severe event to get people's attention and make them realize that we have work to do, to improve forecasts of these situations," said James.

Their goal is to improve forecasts every day, especially critical weather days. An article summarizing the research, written by NOAA, states, "Living through the Marshall Fire has helped underscore ways to improve readiness, forecasts, and warning dissemination. Advances in numerical weather models will provide longer lead times and more geographical accuracy, the authors said. New tools, like the Global Systems Laboratorys Hourly Wildfire Potential Index, which distills modeled predictions of temperature, winds, and soil moisture from national models into a geographical fire risk index across the nation during the day, can improve awareness of rapid changes in hazardous fire weather conditions for first responders."

Working with the National Weather Service (NWS), Benjamin and James said there will likely be changes to the criteria needed to issue a Red Flag Warning, which was not sent out on the day of the Marshall Fire. That day did not meet the relative humidity requirements, which Benjamin said are based on warm fire seasons. The two believe it may be altered to accommodate all seasons.

Coloradans may see fire warnings issued in the future by the NWS, which would be similar to a tornado warning, according to Benjamin and James.