Fran Rutherford was on an Alaskan cruise with her husband, Larry, when they first got word of a fire back home in Black Forest.It was just, according to a news report, 15 acres. Firefighters, they figured, would have that under control in no time.”When we got to Juno, there was a message on my phone to call our daughter,î Rutherford said. ìWe didn’t suspect anything. So I called her, and she was crying. She said, ‘Mom, your house burned.”’That is how they found out their home had been lost in the devastating 2013 Black Forest fire ñ- an inferno that killed two people, destroyed almost 500 homes and scorched more than 14,000 acres.Rutherford was used to moving around ñ- first as the daughter of a National Park Service employee with assignments in various spots, including Yellowstone National Park; then, as the wife of Larry, who was in the U.S. Air Force. After Larry Rutherfordís last assignment brought them to Colorado, his home state, they stayed after he retired. They moved to their home in Black Forest in 1996.”Our kids wanted animals,” Rutherford said, and they were drawn to the quiet and solitude of the forest. “It was kind of the rural life but close enough to Colorado Springs to give us the amenities of the city.”Now, their home of almost 20 years was gone.Since the authorities were not allowing people to go back to the fire zone, they stayed on the ship, but their tourist days were over.”We started our recovery immediately,” Rutherford said. “My husband was a logistics officer in the Air Force. He spent his whole career planning for emergencies. So when this happened, he kicked in immediately and started making lists of things we had to do and contacting our insurance agent and everything.”They got a helping hand from the ship’s captain. “I sent a letter to the captain requesting that we be given priority disembarkation,” she said. “When those ships dock, it can take hours for the people to get off. Not only did he arrange that, but he sent a note back and said you will have free access to our telephones and our internet to take care of business. It’s very, very expensive to do that on a ship. He provided all of that for us, so we got started right away.”Nothing, though, could truly prepare them for the devastation they encountered when they returned home.”It was almost unbelievable,” Rutherford said. About all that remained was the chimney and a burned but intact concrete statue of the virgin Mary.The decision to rebuild was not automatic. The Rutherfords asked their adult kids what they wanted them to do. “And they said, ‘We’d like you to build on the same spot. That place has so many memories for us and our kids.'”And so they rebuilt. The process took 14 months. They moved into the new house on Aug. 1, 2014. While the new house isn’t identical to the first, the footprint is the same. “We chuckled because the first night we stayed in this house, even with all the lights off we could find our way through the house because the floor plan is the same,î Rutherford said.Rutherford chronicled their experience in “Rising From the Ashes: Disaster Recovery for the Homeowner,” which was published this past summer ó five years after the fire. Rutherford is no stranger to writing; she has written study guides for students and teachers of classical history and literature.She primarily wrote the book to help others by documenting the process of disaster recovery. “All homeowners need to be aware of the possibility of a disaster striking,” Rutherford said, whether it is a hurricane or a tornado or a wildfire. In their case, she said, “We flew by the seat of our pants, but we sure could have used help. The insurance company provided some help, but not a lot of hands-on information.”Rutherford said she has received positive reactions from readers. “Fran Rutherfordís ‘Rising from the Ashes’ is not only a must read for anyone who has suffered a casualty loss but is a book that all property owners should have in their possession,” according to an online review.In the book, Rutherford also provides “pre-disaster advice” ó tips that could make recovery easier, including an extensive home inventory checklist. It is easier to record ahead of time everything you own for insurance purposes than to try to build that list from memory later, she said.”Our insurance company was pretty good, but they don’t give you the tricks to get the maximum back on your policy,” Rutherford said. “If you are insured for $400,000 for whatever, you want to get every penny of that. And the insurance company doesn’t tell you how to do that. I tell you how to do that.”(“Rising From the Ashes” is available on Amazon.com, disasterrecoverybook.com and other online booksellers.)
