After The Fire, Beaver Showed Up

It only takes a second for the things you love to disappear.

For Cathy Kirschenmann, whose daughter, Mariah Larson, lived at Eagle Point with her family, that reality has become all too clear.

Kirschenmann is not a Beaver local herself. But after learning that Mariah and her family had lost their home in the Cottonwood Fire, she returned to Beaver to support her daughter—and soon found herself becoming part of the wider recovery effort. In the aftermath of the fire, the family began volunteering.

“Mariah, who goes by Mo, was volunteering with the city, contacting residents that lived on the Mountain. The people that she contacted first were her closest neighbors,” Kirschenmann recalled. “They too had lost their homes, and needed a place to stay.”

Eventually, Kirschenmann had to return home, and caring for four children while navigating her own family’s loss became too much for Mariah to balance with the outreach. Kirschenmann offered to fill in, working from home.

“I said, ‘Well, I’ll do it,’ so then I started calling people on her behalf.”

Throughout the course of these conversations, Kirschenmann provided support while people tried to make sense of what they’d lost.

“I was surprised they wanted to talk to me,” Kirschenmann said when asked about these calls. “I couldn’t do much to help, but I could cry with them.”

The Larsons were doing what they could to help their neighbors. Tanner Larson, Mariah’s husband, was also working throughout the community and, according to Kirshenmann, serving as president of the Chamber of Commerce. But while the family was helping others, Beaver was helping them too.

Some acts were practical. People brought dinners. Others came to help clean and clear the property surrounding the Larsons’ new Beaver home. Other gestures were deeply personal. “They found out that Mariah’s extensive library burned and so they started bringing books,” Kirshenmann said. She remembers hearing people explain why particular books mattered to them before giving those books to Mariah. Again and again, people arrived simply wanting to know what they could do. “I was just blown away by the people of Beaver,” Kirshenmann said. “How close they were, how supportive they were.”

That support has become part of a much larger recovery—one that has continued through fire, flooding, damaged access to the mountain and uncertainty about what comes next.

The Beaver community stands united, and they will fight to protect this place that they love. “I understand now why Mariah’s told me she wants to live there all her life. They're determined to rebuild and to stay there.” Kirschenmann reflects. “I don't think anybody wants to leave.”

Recovery will take more than rebuilding structures. It will take neighbors checking on neighbors, businesses continuing to receive support, volunteers giving their time and people outside the community choosing not to look away once the immediate disaster has passed.

Continue following the Alpine Mountain Escape Blog for more stories from the people rebuilding Beaver County and Eagle Point.