SUPERIOR, Colo. — The Sagamore subdivision of Superior smoldered on Monday underneath several inches of snow that fell after the Marshall Fire wiped out every single home in the neighborhood.
“This is just like an atomic bomb exploded and everything is gone," Arturo Barrios said. “The whole subdivision is gone – 370 houses gone.”
Barrios stood in the driveway where his home used to be on Fox Lane.
"The main door was right here just between the balcony and the garage," he said.
The home he bought in 2005 now exists in memory just like the rest of the neighborhood.
"It was a nice house," Barrios said, looking away from the pile of debris.
Barrios had rented the home on Fox Lane for several years to a family of six, he said. The renters were visiting family in Mexico when the wind-driven Marshall Fire swept through Superior and Louisville last Thursday.
“This car belonged to my tenant," he said, gesturing toward the charred frame of a car in the driveway. "That one, too.”
Barrios pointed out the remnants of bicycles and a trampoline he said belonged to his tenants' four young girls.
“[The tenants] haven't seen this," Barrios said. "I send them pictures, videos, but it’s not the same thing. You have to be here to see the damage.”
Barrios said the family was expected to return from Mexico Monday evening. He said they did not carry renters insurance.
“I’ll be okay, but for them, they lost every single thing that they had to their names," Barrios said.
The feeling of loss is shared on every neighboring street in Sagamore.
"It's hard to believe that the whole neighborhood is gone," Barrios said.
Sagamore still exists in Barrio's mind, and dreams of a new neighborhood do, too.
“I want to rebuild the house because I want this family to live here," he said.
Barrios admitted he doesn't know exactly where the process of rebuilding begins or how long it will take, but he hopes to see it happen.
"We gotta keep moving and we’re going to make it," Barrios said. "We’re going to make it.”
Barrios created a GoFundMe to help out his tenants, and a friend created another fundraiser to help Barrios.
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