LOUISVILLE, Colo. (AP) Last week’s Colorado wildfire caused at least $513 million in damage and destroyed nearly 1,100 homes and structures, officials said Thursday as they updated the toll of property lost in the most destructive wildfire in state history.
Boulder County released the new totals after further assessing the suburban area located between Denver and Boulder where entire neighborhoods were charred. It’s the first estimate of economic damage for the Dec. 30 blaze.
Authorities previously estimated that at least 991 homes and other buildings were destroyed. Two people are missing, though officials have found partial human remains at one location.
President Joe Biden was scheduled to survey the damage on Friday.
Investigators are still trying to determine what caused the wind-whipped wildfire, which forced thousands to flee on very little notice. The inferno erupted following months of drought and fed on bone-dry grassland surrounding fast-growing development in the area near the Rocky Mountain foothills.