The fire that tore through the Caribou Village Shopping Center in Nederland doesn’t qualify as a major disaster, but Gov. Jared Polis on Friday acknowledged the huge economic impact of the Thursday morning blaze that destroyed or damaged as many as a third of the town’s businesses. 

Polis called the fire’s impact “enormous in terms of percentage of workforce and revenue,” estimating that as much as 30% of Nederland’s sales tax revenue was collected from the Caribou Village Shopping Center.

“There’s probably 60, 70, 80 people whose livelihoods were connected to the site … so we want to make sure they’re seamlessly able to access insurance. And we’re happy to connect them with the Office of Economic Development and International Trade as well as the SBA,” Polis said during a press conference in the parking lot of the plaza.. 

Nederland Mayor Billy Giblin in an interview Friday afternoon confirmed the tax revenue hit and said between a quarter and a third of the town’s businesses were lost or damaged.

“I want to thank the quick response of the fire department. It could have been much worse,” Polis said. “But that’s little consolation to the small businesses that lost everything they had.” 

Read the full story at ColoradoSun.com/2025/10/10/governor-congressman-visit-nederland-after-fire.