{"id":42829,"date":"2022-01-07T18:47:15","date_gmt":"2022-01-08T01:47:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/biden-surveys-colorado-wildfire-damage-comforts-victims\/"},"modified":"2022-01-08T01:47:15","modified_gmt":"2022-01-08T01:47:15","slug":"biden-surveys-colorado-wildfire-damage-comforts-victims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/biden-surveys-colorado-wildfire-damage-comforts-victims\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden surveys Colorado wildfire damage, comforts victims"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"President
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden talk with first responders Friday as they tour a neighborhood in Louisville that was impacted by the recent wildfire. (Susan Walsh\/Associated Press)<\/span>AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

LOUISVILLE \u2013 Offering hugs and humor, President Joe Biden comforted Coloradans grappling with rebuilding homes and businesses<\/a> destroyed last week by a rare wind-whipped, winter fire that burned through a pair of heavily populated suburbs between Denver and Boulder.<\/p>\n

One victim was identified Friday and one person remained unaccounted for out of some 35,000 forced from their homes.<\/p>\n

Biden, and his wife, Jill, arrived in the Harper Lake neighborhood of Louisville on Friday afternoon to survey the damage, passing the scorched remnants of homes next to damaged structures still standing. They walked along a street where homes burned to their concrete foundations, meeting residents and local officials who have been overseeing the response and recovery.<\/p>\n

Speaking at a recreation center in Louisville, Biden praised the \u201cincredible courage\u201d of the people affected by the fire and pledged the full support of the federal government to help rebuild.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot only are you helping each other but we\u2019re here with you, we\u2019re not going to go away,\u201d Biden said. \u201cI intend to do what ever it takes as long as it takes to support you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"President
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden tour a neighborhood in Louisville on Friday that was impacted by the recent wildfire, with Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, and Rep. Joe Neguse, D-Colo. (Susan Walsh\/Associated Press)<\/span>Susan Walsh<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"President
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden talk with people Friday as they tour a neighborhood in Louisville that was impacted by the recent wildfire. (Susan Walsh\/Associated Press)<\/span>AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The fire broke out unusually late in December after months of drought with a dry fall and a winter with hardly any snow. Nearly 1,100 buildings, most of them homes, were destroyed, causing an estimated $513 million in damages.<\/p>\n

Biden encouraged residents to \u201chang on to one another,\u201d adding, \u201cYou will get through this and you\u2019ll be stronger for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The cause of the fire remains under investigation. Investigators have narrowed their search for the cause to an area near Boulder where a passerby captured video of a burning shed on Dec. 30, when the fire began. But it could still take authorities weeks to figure out how it started.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t imagine what it\u2019s like to be here in this neighborhood and see winds whipping up to 100 miles an hour and see flames approaching,\u201d Biden said.<\/p>\n

Most of the buildings destroyed were homes. But the blaze also burned through eight businesses in Louisville and neighboring Superior. Federal, state and local agencies and nonprofits have been offering housing assistance, counseling, food, stipends and other aid to residents.<\/p>\n

\"President
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden talk with people Friday as they tour a neighborhood in Louisville that was impacted by the recent wildfire. (Susan Walsh\/Associated Press)<\/span>AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Traveling with the president on Air Force One to Colorado were the state\u2019s two senators, two members of Congress from the affected area, and FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell, whose agency is providing federal assistance. In Colorado, he met Gov. Jared Polis, Louisville Mayor Ashley Stolzmann, Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle and Louisville Fire Protection District Chief John Wilson, in addition to residents and first responders.<\/p>\n

Greeting a line of firefighters and EMS personnel one by one, Biden passed out challenge coins bearing the presidential seal as he thanked them for their service with a handshake.<\/p>\n

Stacy Moore stood in her backyard Friday afternoon surveying the fire\u2019s destruction of the home she\u2019d lived in since the 1990s. She had been drawn to the area because it was supposed to be free of threats of wildfires, floods or tornadoes that other parts of the state typically see.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought it was perfectly safe,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d like to see the federal government and our city governments and our state governments help educate people on how we can use best building practices,\u201d she said shortly before Biden arrived. She\u2019s been told home insurance will \u201dcome nowhere close\u201d to covering the cost of rebuilding.<\/p>\n

\"A
A U.S. Secret Service Special Agent stands as Marine One, with President Joe Biden aboard, lifts off from the South Lawn of the White House blowing snow with the rotor wash, Friday in Washington. Biden was en route to Colorado and Las Vegas. (Alex Brandon\/Associated Press)<\/span>AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Helicopters
Helicopters flying President Joe Biden pass over homes burned by the Marshall Fire Friday in Louisville. The Marshall Fire destroyed nearly 1,000 homes. (Jack Dempsey\/Associated Press)<\/span>AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

On Friday, authorities identified a person whose remains were found near the origin of the fire earlier this week as Robert Sharpe, 69, of Boulder. In a statement, his family said Sharpe was a longtime resident who worked in the construction industry for many years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe total devastation of this event has shocked and impacted so many in the community,\u201d the family said in a statement thanking authorities for the intensive search for Sharpe. \u201cOur hearts go out to the many others who have suffered losses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last year, Biden made several trips to survey the aftermath of weather events, including ice storms in Houston, wildfires in California and flooding in New York City and New Jersey.<\/p>\n

In mid-December, he visited residents of Dawson Springs, Kentucky, after a series of tornadoes tore through that state and seven others, killing scores of people.<\/p>\n

Biden said Friday that the extreme events highlight that America needs to \u201csummon the courage\u201d to address climate change.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t ignore the reality that these fires are being supercharged\u201d by the changing climate, he said. \u201cThe situation is a blinking code red for our nation.\u201d<\/p>\n

After surveying the scene in Colorado, Biden and the first lady were to travel to Las Vegas to attend Saturday\u2019s funeral for Harry Reid, the former Senate majority leader.<\/p>\n

Reid died last week after a yearslong battle with cancer at age 82. He and Biden had served together in the Senate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018You will get through this and you\u2019ll be stronger for it,\u2019 says president<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":42830,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,84],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-42829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-wildfire"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42829"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42829\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42829"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=42829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}