The true amount of insurance shortfalls won't be known until homeowners lock in contracts and start rebuilding.
The total financial loss from December’s Marshall fire is now estimated to exceed $2 billion, cementing the wildfire as the costliest in Colorado history and making it the 10th most expensive in the United States.
In the days after the Marshall fire destroyed more than 1,000 homes in suburban Boulder County, early estimates put the total losses at $500 million. An analysis of insurance coverage for 951 homes destroyed in the Boulder County wildfire that was conducted in April raised the loss estimates to more than $1 billion.
“That number’s gone up substantially at this point,” Conway said during the meeting Friday. “We’re estimating now it will be $2 billion in claims if not more.” The East Troublesome fire, which burned nearly 200,000 acres and destroyed 366 houses, is the second costliest wildfire in state history, piling up $543 million in losses to homes and autos, the insurance association reported.