When Michael Balarezo emerged from the basement office of his Boulder, Colo., home in December 2021, smoke plumes from the nearby Marshall Fire were visible from his driveway.
Balarezo, his wife and daughter swiftly stowed emergency clothing, sensitive documents and toys into duffel bags and loaded them in the back of their car.
Eighty-mile-per-hour wind gusts whipped debris through the air.
The smoke thickened and limited visibility to distances shorter than half a football field.
“And we say bye to our home,” Balarezo said, “because we think it’s going to go in flames.”
When the flames subsided, the house was one of the lucky survivors in the Balarezos’ neighborhood. Soot and ash flooded into the home through doors believed to be opened by emergency personnel, though. The entire main level and upstairs bedroom needed to be gutted.
Two years after leaving, Balarezo and his family moved back in. It took a lot of time to work with …