Marshall Fire Story

In June 2023 a customer came to us with a request for a gate for her new home. Her previous home had burned to the ground in the devasting fire that took out more than 1000 homes in Superior, Marshall and Boulder County in December of 2021.  Our client was rebuilding and was looking to bring back to life some of the many ornamental metal pieces she had in her yard prior to the fire. When we went to her temporary house, we were looking at pieces of metal that were not recognizable in shape.

Some of the pieces of yard art/sculpture were so damaged from the heat that there were pieces of melted glass bonded to the metal as well as a layer of what appeared to be paint and drywall that had liquified and melted over some of the lattice pieces.  The metal itself had heated to melting point, approximately 1500 degrees and thus warped and folded in on itself.

At McLean Forge and Welding we like to take on a challenge and we told the homeowner that we are not art restorers in the technical sense, but that we would be happy to bring these pieces back to life to the extent that we could. Some of this meant going over the objects with a sharp tool and wire brush to get some of the debris out, in other cases it meant heating up the entire object with torches to bend it back to its original shape and then hammering on it to twist and bend it back into shape.  In the case of a bronze sculpture by Glenna Goodacre we essentially just cleaned debris carefully and then created a new stand for the piece so that it was, in essence, still showing what had happened to it, but allowing its inherent beauty to still shine through.

The homeowner, who was dealing with the grief and loss, also had a huge part in her own recovery in that her attitude was very positive and she looked to the possibilities of what could be salvaged. She maintained an attitude of gratitude and continued to look at her blessings such as having adequate coverage and a great construction partner in Sopris Builders. She was also thankful for their availability, and the speed at which they could get her house rebuilt and get her back up and running.

The project presented challenges but mostly it was a joy to bring these heavily fire damaged items back to life and restored to a useful and beautiful state.