UPDATE: One of the three people who had been considered missing in the aftermath of the Marshall Fire in Boulder County has been accounted for.
Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle told reporters on Sunday that the recovery efforts continue for the two other people.
"We are in the process today of trying to locate, and if possible, recover those folks," Pelle said.
His announcement came just hours after the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) opened a Disaster Assistance Center to help residents of Boulder County impacted by the Marshall Fire.
The center is located at 1755 S. Public Road in Lafayette and will be open from noon until 5 p.m. on Sunday. It will be open again during the week from 9 a.m. until 7 p.m..
At a news conference Sunday, Governor Jared Polis told reporters that the intent of the center is to streamline federal relief efforts for fire victims.
"This is a place that you can go that has the insurers, FEMA, SBA, non-profit help relief agencies," Mr. Polis said.
On Saturday, president Biden approved a major disaster declaration making funding available for disaster recovery. The money can be used for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses and other programs to help individuals and business owners recover.
Also on Saturday, Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle announced that three people remain missing from the fire and are feared dead.
Two of the missing are from Superior, the third from Marshall. Sheriff Pelle told reporters that cadaver dogs and search teams will be brought in on Sunday to help with the recovery.
"The structures where these folks would be are completely destroyed and covered with about 8 inches of snow right now, so our ability to search and recover from those structures is very much impended right now," he said.
The sheriff's office also released an updated damage assessment with a preliminary list of 991 structures that were destroyed in the fire, and another 127 that were damaged.
The bulk of the structures that were lost are located in the City of Louisville with 553 destroyed and 45 damaged. The Town of Superior lost 332 structures and had another 60 that were damaged in the fire. The numbers from Superior are estimates which include groupings of structures and new construction.
An additional 106 structures were destroyed and 22 damaged in unincorporated Boulder County.
The county is making the preliminary list publicly available in order to get that property information to impacted residents as quickly as possible. The City of Louisville is also in the process of creating a map of damaged and destroyed structures within city limits.
Boulder County allowed a limited number of evacuees to return to their homes in parts of Louisville and Superior Saturday afternoon. Those homeowners were required to show a photo ID to prove residence.
