Long story short, I lost my ranger Tuesday at 5:30pm in Black Forest, Colorado. I'm not sure how much everyone knows about the fire out here but so far it has been the most devastating fire in Colorado history taking close to 400 homes and 2 people so far. My family and I grew up in Black Forest. My Grandpa and Grandma moved there in 1964 and had 7 kids, one of which is my dad. They have lived in the same house ever since and it was the gathering place for every holiday and even breakfast every Sunday morning. Many of my aunts and uncles also lived in Black Forest and there were a total of 6 houses that were all owned by my family. As of today, only one of those 6 are left standing. It is unbelievable that it is impossible to even distinguish where one property ended and one began. My immediate family and I were visiting my mom's side of the family in Minnesota and I was the only one to return before the fire. I had just under ten minutes from the time my friend and I got to my family's home before we were driving out of there under thick smoke with flames coming up the ravine and through the trees.

I parked my truck at the local school earlier as my friend and I tried to make it to his house on foot before the fire consumed his house (the police had already blocked off the roads and wouldn't allow anyone through). We were going to pick up my truck on the way out but when we returned to the school in my dad's truck with as much of my family's possessions as we could load in 10 minutes, this is what we saw. At this point it really hit me that we really needed to get out of there and thankfully, we made it out safely.

Every member of my family is now safe but 16 of us are without a home. My family had home owner's insurance but two of my uncles and my grandparent's did not. Our state farm agent insured our entire family but could never sell my grandpa home owner's insurance. In fact, you couldn't sell him anything... That's just how he was. An old fashioned retired marine. These next couple months are going to be really tough for everyone but especially for my relatives that lost everything with no insurance. Unfortunately, I only had liability insurance on my ranger so I am going to try to save for another one. I am just asking for your prayers as we continue to deal with this fire. Thanks a bunch guys. God Bless.

 

Sad day in the Ranger world!!!

 

Forget the truck, It's a good thing everyone's ok. Good luck and God speed in the future man!

 

Sorry to hear about that man, glad you and your family are ok

 

Wow, thats pretty terrible, only took 10 minutes for this to happen....yea, I'd say thats a pretty intense fire...I live in georgia and i've been hearing about this fire everyday on the news. Just wonder if its ever gonna stop or slow down. Sad to hear we lost a ranger to it, hope you get another one soon!

 

that really sucks about your family's homes and your truck. glad you made it out though. is it going to be under control any time soon?

 

Its going to be another rough summer for Colorado. And to think...all this devastation to others caused by one person's stupid mistake. Or it could have been set on purpose. They are still investigating...but know it was human error that started this fire.

20k+ thousand acres with little containment. Its been hot (record setting temps near/at 100 degrees and windy here lately which doesn't help the fight. Near 0% humidity for a couple days. Finally got a bit of rain down that way today.

Sorry to hear about all the losses. Best of luck to you and your family

 

Sorry to hear... I hope things start turning around for the better soon!

 

that sucks!!!!

I love my 98 ranger...and I'm sorry

 

Bummer man. Good luck to you and your family. Everything will work out how it's supposed to. Stay safe.

 

Trucks, homes, and other possessions can be replaced. You and your family cannot.

I'm glad to hear you are alright. :-)

 

Glad the family is safe. I have been hearing about those fires and it terrible. I have friends in Thorton and their daughter and son-in-law live some where nearby. We pray they stay safe.