BASALT, Colo. — When the Lake Christine Fire swept across Basalt Mountain on the night of July 4, 2018, the Kim family refused to leave it to fate that their Dragonfly Ranch in Missouri Heights would survive unscathed.
Alex, Laura and their son Tai wrestled with hoses of their irrigation system throughout the night to keep their 40-acre meadow and surrounding property doused enough to prevent the spread of the fire to the adjacent subdivision. Their greenbelt also allowed firefighters to concentrate efforts on a different battlefront.
Looking back on the second anniversary of the wildfire this week, the Kims recounted how the wind-driven flames rolled toward their property and crested a small berm just a few yards from their house before they extinguished them.
“The fire was literally rolling,” Laura Kim said Monday. She remembered shaking and thinking, “I hope we made the right decision because it’s too late to evacuate now.”
Laura and Alex had a busy evening ahead with their catering business Fusion when they departed to prepare for a party in Aspen on Fourth of July afternoon two years ago.
They weren’t overly concerned about the wildfire that had broken out the night before at the Basalt shooting range several miles away, so they left Tai, then entering his senior year at Basalt High School, to hold down the fort.
For more visit The AspenTimes.com
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