Their home burned in the Marshall fire. Then their new house caught fire after contractors cut a power line.

Imagine your entire house burning to the ground.

You rebuild it and move into a new home 18 months later.

But then, three months after that, a neighbor rushes to your door to alert you that a utility box on the side of your brand-new house is on fire.

That’s what happened on Oct. 25 to Sonali Marlin, a Louisville resident whose family lost their home in the devastating Marshall fire on Dec. 30, 2021.

When Marlin saw the flames outside her rebuilt home in The Summit neighborhood, she panicked and began sobbing.

“I just couldn’t imagine my house on fire again,” she said.

The fire was quickly extinguished and the exterior suffered little damage. But about thousands of dollars worth of appliances and electronics inside were fried, she said.

Now, though, Marlin and her next-door neighbor have been thrust into another homeowner headache filled with lawyers, insurance companies, paperwork and endless phone calls as they deal with a situation that is not their fault.

“We just want to enjoy our holidays and not be doing paperwork and calling people and going to city meetings and trying to protest,” Marlin said.

The saga began on the evening of Oct. 25 when a company was digging to lay fiber optic cable for CenturyLink. That company, a subcontractor called Advanced Underground, cut through an underground power line owned by Xcel Energy, both Xcel and the subcontractor said. Comcast’s Xfinity cable lines also were in the ground

The strike sent 440 volts of electricity surging into homes owned by Marlin and her neighbor, Shaun Howe.

“It sounded like every light bulb in my house exploded. Pop! Pop! Pop!” Howe said. “Every fire alarm in my house started going off. Fire! Fire! Fire!”

Next door, Marlin was in the kitchen, trying to figure out what to cook for supper.

“My microwave was smoking a little bit,” she said. “I was totally panicking.”

Then Howe knocked on the door to tell them about the fire on the outside of their house. Marlin and her husband ran out and saw a plastic box that covered their Comcast cable lines burning.

It was quickly extinguished and no external damage was done. But, Martin said, “That’s when we heard the electrical box was humming and vibrating.”

The surge burned out Marlin’s microwave and range, ceiling fans, light sockets and an irrigation system controller. The Howes lost a microwave, a ceiling fan, electronics that adjusted a bed and a fencing system for their dog.

Finger-pointing and investigations

Xcel shut off power to the house and launched an investigation into what happened. And that’s when the finger-pointing among the companies began.

At first, representatives from Xcel and Advanced Underground were apologetic, Howe and Marlin said. Advanced Underground even offered to pay for the damages.

But then their claims were denied by the company.

Neither the Howes nor the Marlins want to file claims with their insurers because they already found it difficult to purchase homeowners insurance after the Marshall fire. Howe said she applied with five carriers before finding one willing to insure their new home. A new claim might cause them to lose coverage, both said.

“That’s a non-starter for us,” Marlin said. “Companies are dropping people just because of the amount of losses.”

And both families said the total damages are not high enough to justify hiring lawyers and neither really wants the hassle of small claims courts. The Marlins said it will cost about $4,500 to replace their damaged items and repair outlets. The Howes suffered about $3,000 in losses.

Anyone digging underground in Colorado is required to call 811 to find out where various power lines, fiber optic cables and natural gas pipes are buried. Mistakes can be deadly, which is what happened in November 2018 when contractors working near Heather Gardens in Aurora hit a natural gas line, triggering a fatal explosion.

Harvey Houston, vice president of Advanced Underground, told The Denver Post he wanted to reimburse both families for their losses. But his insurance company would not allow it, saying it would be admitting guilt in his company’s dispute with Xcel over whose fault it was.

“I just feel so bad for these people over it,” Houston said. “I was going to do that out of the goodness of my heart but that got shot down.”

Houston said his company was hired by CenturyLink to install fiber optic cables and that he contacted 811 before digging. Xcel failed to properly mark their power lines, he said.

“That failed to happen,” Houston said. “If I don’t know it’s there, I can’t avoid it.”

He said his workers used a method called “potholing,” where they use water to drill holes and vacuum it out to look for lines.

Houston also said the Comcast cable lines were not properly grounded. If they had been, the surge never would have traveled those lines and into the Marlin and Howe homes, he said.

Leslie Oliver, a Comcast spokeswoman, said the company was aware of the situation and investigating it.

Fault over who caused the accident will be litigated, Houston said. And his hands are tied when it comes to trying to make things whole for both families.

“It’s very frustrating when I read that Xcel might have caused the original fire but they’re still not stepping up for the people.” he said.

An investigation into the Marshall fire’s origin determined it had two ignition points. One was started by week-old embers on the Twelve Tribes cult’s property and the second ignited after an Xcel power line snapped, according to a report from the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office and Boulder County District Attorney’s Office.

The fire killed two people and destroyed more than $2 billion worth of property in Louisville, Superior and unincorporated Boulder County.

Tyler Bryant, an Xcel spokesman, said in an emailed statement that crews worked quickly to restore power after a third-party contractor working for another company struck Xcel equipment.

Bryant’s email did not pin specific blame on Advanced Underground, but an email to Advanced Underground’s insurance company from Amber Hunt, an Xcel fire investigator, indicates that Xcel believes the contractor is at fault.

Hunt wrote that Advanced Underground’s workers had hit an Xcel line the previous day and Xcel asked the company to stop work. But that didn’t happen, according to the email, which Howe shared with The Post.

“Please be aware that this damage investigation occurred after Xcel facilities were hit a second time within a 48-hour timeframe. Advanced Underground hit our lines the day prior and were told to redrill and pothole. Advanced Underground crews ignored this advisement and continued drilling on accurate locates resulting in the damages done to both Xcel Energy Facilities but also these homeowners’ homes as well,” the email said.

“Big companies not doing a thing”

The whole episode is incredibly frustrating, Marlin and Howe said. They’ve contacted all of the companies involved, private lawyers, the Boulder County district attorney and the Louisville City Council.