Before the fire, the two couples, and the homes they loved, were nearly identical.

The Ackermans and the Spaldings bought their houses — a few hundred feet apart, framed by windows facing dramatic views of the Rocky Mountains — 15 years ago.

Both homes in Louisville, Colo., were roomy, each with three stories, four bedrooms and a finished basement. And the couples grew their families to fill them, welcoming their first children — daughters who later served in the same Girl Scout troop — around the time they moved in. Two years later, each couple welcomed a second child, another daughter for the Ackermans and a son for the Spaldings.

On Dec. 30, 2021, as smoke descended over the cul-de-sacs dotted with maple trees, the families escaped a wildfire that destroyed more than 1,000 structures. Both couples returned the next day to find that their subdivision had been obliterated, the destruction so complete that they had to rely on street signs and charred trees to identify the plots where their homes once stood.

Each family soon reached out to their insurers to begin rebuilding their lives. And that’s when their paths diverged — sharply.

The Spaldings received a check for $311,810 from their insurer Safeco in seven weeks to cover the belongings lost in the blaze, after little more than a phone interview with the adjuster. More than a year later, State Farm, the insurer for the Ackermans, offered just $131,275 to cover their contents, and only after the couple produced an exhaustive, 50-page Excel spreadsheet including items as minor as the Lego set and Barbie dolls their daughters had lost.