Nearly 1,000 homes destroyed in Marshall Fire, three people missing and feared dead

BOULDER COUNTY, Colo. (KKTV) - The Boulder County Sheriff’s Office is reporting nearly 1,000 homes have been completely destroyed in the Marshall Fire. This is coming from a press conference held by the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office.

The current numbers of destroyed or damages structures in other parts of Boulder County are:

City of Louisville: 553 destroyed, 45 damaged

Town of Superior: 332 destroyed, 60 damaged (numbers are estimated due to groupings of structures and new construction)

Unincorporated Boulder County: 106 destroyed, 22 damaged

Totals confirmed to date countywide are 991 structures destroyed and 127 structures damaged.

Sheriff Joe Pelle says from these areas, two people are missing from Superior and one is missing from the Marshall area. Families are telling the Boulder County Sheriff that they lost contact with their loved ones during the fire. Today, Cadaver dogs and search teams will be sent to the homes to look for remains.

“The structures where these folks would be are completely destroyed and covered with about eight inches of snow right now,” said Sheriff Pelle. “Our ability to attempt to search and recover from those structures is very much impeded right now. We hope that within the next couple of days, we can help families, recover remains or confirm that they’re not there.

The Marshall Fire is now 62% contained. The fire has burned more than 6,000 acres. Initial reports showed downed power lines were the cause of the fire but a survey of the area did not find any downed power lines. Police are now investigating the cause of the fire. Police are saying a trip line was opened for people to report anything suspicious.

“We are actively investigating a number of tips that came in yesterday and last night from the community,” said Sheriff Pelle. “One of those tips is resulted in us executing a search warrant on a property, and there are investigations underway.”

This morning, thousands of people are still out of their homes. Officials say when people return home, the power will be restored in those areas but there will not be gas. Excel Energy is providing heaters for people who may need them.

At 12:00p.m., Deanne Criswell, Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and Colorado Gov. Jared Polis will hold a news briefing at the Boulder County Sheriff’s Headquarters. The link can be live-streamed here.

The Boulder County Sheriff’s Office will provide an update everyday at 2:00pm. The link can be live-streamed here.

There are ways to help those that are impacted the fire. You can find that here.

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