The Burn Scar.

Series.

The Marshall Fire was the most expensive fire in Colorado history. The Burn Scar is a tender yet carefully investigated podcast of one family, one fire and the hard choices people are making in the wake of increasing natural disasters. Hear the trailer now.

December 30, 2021, Podcaster Ariel Lavery’s parents are forced to flee as Boulder’s Marshall Fire bears down. Later, her mom returns to find their house burned down. “The fire was so hot that a lot of it just crumpled and exploded.” It’s the most expensive fire in Colorado History. Listen now.

Ariel returns to see the burn scar that was once her childhood home. She feels strangely…homesick. “Imagining one’s home place meet its end – envisioning just what this neighborhood looked like engulfed in flames – I wonder if this is all part of the feeling of solastalgia.”

Ariel’s neighbors all want to know what caused the Marshall Fire. Then a new forensic report comes out, confirming climate change isn’t at the door…it just burned the door down.

Listen to a behind-the-scenes conversation with The Burn Scar’s producer Ariel Lavery and The Modern West host Melodie Edwards. Ariel says the idea for the series came to her in the shower. “I just needed to record this. I just needed to somehow remember the feelings of visiting the site, being there.”

Ariel’s family and neighbors are starting to rebuild after the Marshall Fire destroyed their homes. But now new green building codes are making it super expensive. Ariel’s brother is dubious.

Ariel makes the trip out to see the new construction of her family home. But it’s nothing like the one that burned down in the Marshall Fire. Her feeling of solastalgia is long gone.

If you missed our Facebook Live panel discussion, now’s your chance to hear it. We discuss how to prepare for urban wildfires in the west with folks you met in The Burn Scar… and the former mayor of Paradise, California.