Water Damage Restoration in Black Forest, Colorado

Updated November 12, 2026

The Black Forest fire started on June 11, 2013, and burned about 14,280 acres before crews contained it. Roughly 500 homes were lost and two people died. Until the Marshall fire in 2021, it was the most destructive wildfire in Colorado history. More than a decade later, parts of the burn area near Shoup Road still show the scar, with rebuilt houses and young growth among the surviving pines.

That history is part of why water damage here looks different from anywhere else in the county. So is the way Black Forest homes get their water.

A house that is its own utility

There is no water main running down most Black Forest roads. Homes sit on lots of 2.5 acres or more, each with a private well drilled into the Denver Basin aquifers and an onsite septic system. El Paso County Public Health regulates septic systems in unincorporated areas like this one.

Owning your own water system means owning every failure point:

• The well pump and pressure tank. A cracked tank fitting, a failed pressure switch or a split line in the well room can run for hours. Because the pump refills the tank automatically, the leak does not stop on its own.
• Water treatment equipment. Softeners, filters and UV units add fittings and drain lines, each one a chance for a slow drip.
• The septic system. A full tank, a clogged line or a saturated field can push wastewater back up through a basement floor drain, a shower or the lowest toilet.

Learn two things now, while everything is dry: where the well pump breaker is, and where the house shutoff valve sits after the pressure tank. Label both.

Big houses, long pipe runs

Many Black Forest homes are large, with walkout basements, long wings and plumbing that travels a long way from the well room to the far bathroom. At more than 7,000 feet in the trees, winter nights are cold, and a sudden arctic outbreak can freeze lines in exterior walls, garages and crawlspaces. Longer pipe runs mean more places for a freeze, and a larger house means a leak at one end can go unseen from the other.

If you leave for a week in winter, keep the heat on, shut off the well pump breaker and drain the lines if you can. Our burst pipe cleanup in Black Forest page covers the drying once a frozen line has split.

Runoff in the burned area

Where the 2013 fire burned hottest, the soil lost much of the ground cover and duff that used to soak up rain. Burned and thinly vegetated slopes shed water faster, so a summer cloudburst can send muddy runoff across driveways and toward foundations that never saw water before the fire. Recovery has been steady, but it varies lot to lot.

Pay attention to where water goes on your property during a hard July or August storm. Grading that slopes toward the house, a window well at the bottom of a slope or a driveway that funnels water into a garage are the usual entry points. Read more in flash flooding and burn scar homes, and see storm and flood damage in Black Forest for what a crew does once mud and water are inside.

Snow, hail and the roof

Black Forest gets more snow than central Colorado Springs, and it sits in the shade of tall pines, so roofs stay snow-covered longer. That feeds ice dams on north-facing eaves. Hail season adds cracked shingles and skylights. A roof leak in a tall great room may first show as a stain high on a vaulted ceiling, which is easy to miss until it spreads.

Mold in a dry forest

People assume mold cannot grow at this altitude in this dry air. It can, wherever water sits trapped behind finished surfaces. Basements with carpet over concrete, walls behind a leaking well tank and insulation under a dripping roof valve all hold moisture long enough for growth to start in a few days. Fast drying with meters to confirm the materials are actually dry is the best prevention. See mold after water damage in a dry climate for more.

Your first half hour

1. Cut the well pump breaker, then close the house shutoff.
2. If wastewater is coming up a drain, stop using all water in the house.
3. Turn off power to any wet room if the panel is safe to reach.
4. Photograph every affected area.
5. Call a restoration crew. Rural driveways can be hard to find, so give the road name, house number and a landmark.

What drives the cost here

Price comes down to the water category (clean well water versus septic wastewater), the number of rooms and square feet involved, finished or unfinished space, how long the leak ran before it was found, and whether walls, floors and cabinets need replacing after drying. Large homes with high ceilings and long distances to haul equipment can add time. The company that inspects should give you the figure in writing before any work begins. For more, read water damage categories explained.

Insurance and permits

Many homeowners policies cover a sudden leak like a split pressure tank line, but not a slow drip that went on for months. Septic and sewer backups usually need a separate endorsement. Building permits and contractor licensing in Black Forest go through the Pikes Peak Regional Building Department, because the area is unincorporated El Paso County.

Nearby

Crews that work Black Forest also cover Monument to the northwest, Gleneagle and Falcon. Black Forest sits north and northeast of Colorado Springs, a short drive up Black Forest Road from the north end of the city. For the full process, see water damage restoration in Black Forest.

Sources and official resources

• Contractor license lookup (Pikes Peak Regional Building Department)
• Homeowners insurance help (Colorado Division of Insurance)
• Colorado Springs weather warnings (National Weather Service, Pueblo)
• IICRC: restoration industry standards body