Upgrades with Hardie^® siding help save Colorado home from wildfire destruction

When Lyons, Colorado, resident Kerry Matre decided to upgrade her 35-year-old home in 2020, destructive wildfires were the last thing she had on her mind. Rather, the Colorado native wanted a new look to her old house.

“I had woodpeckers and holes in my cedar siding, and the mice would get in,” she says. “I was like, ‘Okay, time to redo.’”

Matre decided on exterior siding from James Hardie because of its high-quality appearance. A bonus was that the siding deterred critters from snacking on her home. “I liked the look of it,” Matre says. “I wanted to keep out pests. I wanted the woodpeckers to stop driving me insane.”

When the redo was completed, Matre was delighted. No more pests — and her house looked great.

“Everybody thought I had a new house,” she says. “I would get comments all the time of, ‘Did you build this house?’ I was like, ‘No, this house is 35 years old!’”

THE STONE CANYON WILDFIRE

Four years later, trouble struck. Matre was prepared for the potential devastation of the Alexander Mountain Fire in Colorado’s Larimer County, about 30 miles away from Lyons. But on July 30, a friend came to her with frightening news: flames on the ridge above Matre’s house.

Those flames came from the too-close-to-home Stone Canyon wildfire just outside of Lyons. Matre ran outside and, to her astonishment, saw a 30-foot wall of fire coming down the ravine toward her house. “I ran inside, got my eight-year-old daughter and my three dogs, threw ‘em in the car, grabbed a couple of things, and we left,” she says. “I was sure my house was gone.”

Matre explains that she and her family went to a friend’s house in town, sat in the backyard and watched the smoke. “Every time the smoke was black,” she says, “I thought, ‘Well, that’s my house.’”

COMING HOME

Firefighters worked tirelessly to contain the Stone Canyon fire, which was contained by August 5, 2024. In its wake, the fire destroyed nearly 1,600 acres and five homes and resulted in one death.

When the worst of the fire passed, Matre, returned home with her daughter and her dogs. She says driving back was very difficult, and she expected the worst. “Everything was black,” she recalls.

However, Matre received a surprise when she arrived. Her barn was burned, her garden was destroyed, and the deck and roof were damaged.

But her house, covered with the durable and attractive Hardie® siding, remained intact.

“I kept asking myself, ‘How in the world is my house still standing?’” Matre says. “Many of my neighbors whose houses are still standing also had fiber cement siding. I think that, along with other fire prevention measures, helped us survive this.”

REPAIR AND REGENERATION

Matre is now in the process of repairing her house. She says she will upgrade her former asphalt roof to metal and replace her wooden decks with fire-resistant material.

“The fire is so random that it takes what it wants, and then other things are left untouched,” she says.

In the meantime, she isn’t doing anything with the siding. She doesn’t need to. With a philosophy that embraces “durability by design,” Hardie® fiber cement products are noncombustible* — they won’t burn when exposed to direct flame or contribute to a fire’s spread. When tested by ASTM E84 standards, the siding carries a Class A fire rating.

Combined with other fire mitigation measures, such as proper venting, choice of roof material, and clearing vegetation from around the house, the result can be greater resistance to wildfire damage.

Matre says, “Switching to Hardie siding is part of why my house is still standing.”

More good news is that the garden gutted by the fire is coming back to life. A few days after the fire, Matre’s pumpkin plant started growing again. “I’m happy to report that my pumpkins are thriving,” she adds. “It’s going to be a long road home, but I’m so glad that it’s started, and the outside of my home is okay.”

A FOCUS ON FIRE PREPAREDNESS

Even before the Stone Canyon and Alexander Mountain wildfires, Matre was no stranger to fire mitigation. She says that two firefighter friends help clear out bushes, grasses and other burnable materials away from her house each year.

And in the wake of the Stone Canyon event, she shares lessons learned from what she calls her “surreal” experience:

• Ensure important documents are handy: “Having a box of the most important documents you can grab is super important,” Matre explains.
• Have a go-bag ready: In Matre’s case, the “go-bag” was a laundry basket. “Those are the clothes that you regularly wear,” she says, “so have that when you leave.”
• Consider all possibilities: Matre says that running through the scenarios in her mind long before the wildfire was a reality helped her prepare and react quickly. “We had about four minutes between when we saw the fire and when we were driving away from the house,” she says.
• Understand that wildfires will increase: The Nature Conservancy reports that climate change, drier forests and grasses, and changing weather patterns mean more wildfires at greater severity. “This is happening more and more,” Matre observes. “It’s important to be prepared and understand how quickly it can happen.” One factor that can help to protect a home from increasing wildfires is with Hardie® siding, which is noncombustible and won’t burn.

Matre says she’s grateful for the firefighters and agencies that gave their all in fighting and containing the Stone Canyon wildfire. “I think the fire mitigation work, the Hardie® siding, and the work of the firefighters that were here that day are all why my house is still here,” she adds.

Hardie® siding can beautify and help protect your home all at once. Request a free quote today or see Hardie® siding’s protection in action against fire.

*Hardie ® siding complies with ASTM E136 as a noncombustible cladding and is recognized by fire departments including Chicago IL, St. Paul MN, Flagstaff AZ and Wayne County, OH. Fiber cement fire resistance does not extend to applied paints or coatings, which may be damaged or char when exposed to OH. Fiber cement fire resistance does not extend to applied paints or coatings, which may be damaged or char when exposed to flames.

*This is a paid testimonial