BOULDER — Throughout the 21 months after the 2010 Fourmile Canyon Fire destroyed her family’s home, Kathy Banich kept a taut rein on her emotions.
But in late June, when she drove back up Mountain King Road ready to start moving into her rebuilt house, she began sobbing uncontrollably.
“I had to pull my car over because I fell apart,” she said.
“I hadn’t really cried through this whole thing. It was a good, cleaning cry. It felt like it had been five years, not two. There were times when, because of the stress and tension, I didn’t know whether I’d live through it.”
Banich and others who survived the Fourmile Canyon fire, the Black Tiger fire, the Hayman fire, and scores of other wildland fires that torched their Colorado homes understand the roiling, untethered universe that is the new reality for survivors of this year’s fire disasters.
They know what it’s like to struggle with the question of whether to rebuild on the foothill or mountain land that once anchored their dreams.
Green Real Estate Appraiser 