Areas served · Colorado
Forensic Engineering in Boulder
In and around Boulder
What we investigate in Boulder
Boulder's losses concentrate where the plains meet the foothills: grass-fueled wildfire on the eastern edge, foundation heave in the swelling shale beneath the city, and hail off the Front Range. We document what actually failed and hold the finding to a standard that survives scrutiny, a licensed engineer responds within 24 hours, and there are no travel charges.
The conditions we see in Boulder
The most destructive fire in Colorado history started as a grass fire. On December 30, 2021, the Marshall Fire ran through the prairie wildland-urban interface in unincorporated Boulder County and destroyed more than 1,000 homes and businesses across Superior and Louisville, driven by extreme downslope winds through grassland fuels rather than forest. Those same chinook windstorms are routine at the canyon mouths: gusts top 100 mph at foothills gauges and reach 70 to 80 mph in neighborhoods against the canyons, and the NWS issues High Wind Warnings most often from December through May. Boulder also sits on the western rim of the Front Range Hail Alley, one of the most hail-prone stretches in the country, and Front Range storms have produced stones up to 4 inches across, with the largest and most frequent hail falling on the open plains just east of the city.
The ground moves on its own. Boulder is built over the Cretaceous Pierre Shale, a claystone bedrock that swells when wet and rebounds when dry, and the Colorado Geological Survey documents this heaving bedrock along the Front Range piedmont causing exceptional damage to houses, roads, and utilities since suburban development began in the early 1970s. Water is the fourth driver: the September 2013 flood dropped more than 17 inches of rain on Boulder in eight days, pushed Boulder Creek to a peak many times its normal flow, and destroyed 262 homes across Boulder County. The housing stock has a median build year near 1977, from late-19th and early-20th-century brick and stone in Mapleton Hill and the Newlands against the canyon mouths, to mid-century slab-on-grade and basement foundations over the shale, to newer interface subdivisions in East Boulder and Gunbarrel out on the prairie corridor.
How we help in Boulder
The evaluations Boulder cases usually call for
- Foundation, heave, and structural evaluation
When a slab cracks or a wall separates in Boulder, the cause can be swelling Pierre Shale lifting a footing, freeze-thaw and deep frost, hail or wind damage read back into the frame, or a construction defect. Our licensed engineers evaluate the structure and the bedrock behavior together and document which one is responsible.
Our structural engineering services- Hail, wind, and flood loss investigation
After a hailstorm, a chinook windstorm, or a Boulder Creek flood, we separate the storm damage from wear, prior repairs, and defects that predated the event. That distinction decides the claim, so we ground each finding in the physical evidence at the property rather than assumption.
Our forensic engineering services
Fire origin & cause
Fire origin and cause in Boulder
Fire on Boulder's eastern edge behaves like the Marshall Fire: dry prairie grass, extreme downslope wind, and embers driven into subdivisions where suburban development abuts open grassland. Boulder County investigators identified two probable ignition sources for that fire, a reignited buried burn on a residential property and hot particles discharged from an unmoored Xcel Energy power line, which ties the local wildfire hazard to both accidental ignition and electrical arcing. When wind carries a fire that fast, the origin evidence disappears quickly, and pinning down where and how it started is what a claim or a case turns on.
Our NAFI-certified investigators build the determination under NFPA 921. They work the scene in order, trace the burn and char patterns back to the area of origin, evaluate the electrical and mechanical systems and any implicated utility equipment, and test each candidate ignition source until the evidence leaves one standing, accidental or incendiary. Reaching the scene early preserves evidence that wind and firefighting erase, and the same engineer records the finding and testifies to it at deposition and trial.
Fires we investigate
- Residential and commercial fires
- Grassland and wildland-urban interface fires
- Powerline and electrical-arcing fires
- Historic and older-masonry building fires
- Vehicle fires
Common questions
Forensic engineering in Boulder, Colorado
A different question about your case? An engineer, not a call center, answers within 24 hours.
Is foundation cracking in Boulder the soil or something else?
Often it is the shale. Boulder sits on Pierre Shale bedrock that heaves as it wets and rebounds, but freeze-thaw, drainage, plumbing leaks, and construction defects produce similar cracking. We evaluate the damage pattern and the ground before assigning a cause.
Can you tell hail or wind damage from wear that was already there?
Yes. Boulder sits at the edge of Hail Alley and takes damaging chinook winds off the foothills, and separating fresh hail bruising or wind uplift from prior deterioration and old repairs is a core part of a storm loss investigation here. We base it on the evidence at the property.
Do you charge travel to reach Boulder?
No. We work Boulder-area cases from our Omaha lab and Los Angeles office with no travel charges, and a licensed engineer responds within 24 hours.
Have a loss that needs answers?
Tell us what happened. An engineer, not a call center, will review your case.