High Park Fire Victims Get a Bridge to Brighter Days

Pamela Dickman | Loveland Reporter-Herald

Loveland-based Gerrard Excavating donated $75,000 worth of supplies and labor to help Rist Canyon residents.

RIST CANYON—Erin Mounsey saw hope and sparkles in the eyes of residents who, six months ago, were shell shocked when the High Park fire ravaged their Whale Rock neighborhood.

The executive director of the Larimer County chapter of the American Red Cross described happiness and delight when residents gathered Saturday to celebrate the new bridge leading into the Rist Canyon neighborhood—a project made possible by local contractors.

“This is what it looks like when a community is healing,” Mounsey said.

His coworker, Adam Rae, added: “A lot of people were smiling and laughing.”

The picture of the mountain neighborhood was very different, very grim, in June when the most destructive fire in Larimer County history blazed through, taking 40 of the 70 homes that are accessed off that one road.

Left behind was an even more severely damaged road and bridge into the neighborhood—one that, before the fire, was already rickety, narrow and often bypassed to drive through the drainage.

And the situation was expected to escalate in coming years as runoff multiplies because the landscape is now bare. With no trees or vegetation to absorb water or prevent debris from rushing down the ridges, officials worried runoff would overwhelm existing culverts, wash out the old bridge and damage the public Rist Canyon Road.

A new bridge and culvert was needed, but the residents responsible for the bridge and road already were dealing with the loss of their homes, insurance and other costs and stresses associated with the wildfire.

So, local businesses stepped in.

Loveland-based Gerrard Excavating spearheaded the project, donated $75,000 worth of supplies and labor and connected with other local contractors and businesses that pitched in another $22,000 worth of supplies.

Larimer County kicked in the last piece, $33,000 that enabled Gerrard to install the larger box culvert, helping residents and protecting a county road.

The new bridge is four times larger and has a big box culvert underneath to prevent runoff and damage and to now allow large cement trucks and other vehicles carrying building supplies to access the neighborhood, boosting the rebuilding process.

“It was amazing to see so many people in our construction community step up and donate supplies and time,” said County Commissioner Tom Donnelly, who attended a ribbon cutting for the new bridge with residents Saturday. “Larimer County played a small part. We paid to upgrade that culvert.”

And now that larger vehicles can safely access the neighborhood, rebuilding has taken on new energy—a feeling that came alive at the ribbon cutting celebration, Mounsey said.

“It was just faces of joy,” Rae added. “This was the best Christmas present you could give them.”

Source: Loveland Reporter-Herald