The side effect for those of us in Colorado who weren't directly affected by this fire is our homeowner's insurance rates have skyrocketed. My homeowner's insurance has gone up 100% over a two-year period, some of this is due to the increase in home values but the majority is driven by the fires & hail storms.
We retired here to Colorado 8 years ago to be near kids/grandkids. I am currently waist deep in another major hail insurance claim and will soon have my third new roof put on in this brief stay plus three successive summers of choking, poisonous smoke from wildfires (‘19,‘20,’21). Most everyone is hurting economically to some degree but especially fixed income folks. And all of that doesn’t even take into account the incredible self inflicted cultural damage being done to the state. (By way of balance, I should say that the majority of Coloradans view what I see as damage as actually progress and improvement.)
But…we still have a home unlike so many who lost everything and in many cases can’t afford to rebuild.