On Thursday, December 30th, a fire quickly spread through Superior and Louisville, hitting parts of Aurora and Broomfield. Thousands of people had to evacuate and a thousand houses were burned down. High winds helped spread the fire. It also made the fire an interesting one. A building would burn down yet everything else was fine. It was also the other way around, everything would burn down yet one or two houses or buildings would be fine. It was initially said the fire started due to downed power lines from the wind. Recently, the police and fire departments have reported they are investigating the true cause of the fire, a shed being the centre piece.

On January 2nd, I went to the Louisville Recreation and Senior Center to help distribute bottled water to residents with a team from Swire Coca Cola, a local bottler to the Coca Cola organisation. Residents do not have power or gas. They have to boil water in order to use it, all the clean water was used to fight the fire. Word is that they have to do that for at least another five days, maybe more. 

The devastation is heartbreaking. Buildings and homes were gone, some were still smouldering. I could see the smoke from these buildings from the rec centre. When leaving, I passed by a house that was burned to the ground and the rest of the neighbouring houses were fine. A building right behind the fire station next to the rec centre was burned to the ground.

Many of the people who got water from us lost their homes. Some were living in their cars, others were living in the rec centre, and others living with friends or families. All of them were appreciative of having clean water. 

There were at least four or five people donating water during the two hours I was there. There were more and most likely will be more. Swire donated 22 pallets of water, each pallet containing 60 cases. Each case has 32 half-litre bottles of water. That totals 21,120 litres of Dasani water.

Three people went missing. One was found alive. One has speculated to have, unfortunately, died. This person was a 91-year-old who lived behind the Costco, the neighbourhood that completely burned to the ground. Her body hasn’t been found. The third person whereabouts are unknown. Power is soon to be restored and neighbourhoods are being cleared for reentering.

We want to thank the volunteers and the people who donated water. We want to thank Superior Concilmen Kyle Brown, who has been at the rec centre, helping give water and information.

To receive help or to donate money (no physical items please), go to https://www.boulderoem.com/