Camp Ramah In The Rockies Relocates After Devastating Fire

Image by Facebook
(JTA) — Camp Ramah in the Rockies relocated to the nearby JCC Ranch Camp, after its facilities were evacuated following a fire that destroyed the building housing the camp kitchen, dining hall and administrative offices.
The entire camp moved to its new home in the JCC Ranch Camp in Elbert, Colorado, whose summer season has already ended, on Tuesday, after spending a day in Denver, where the 130 campers as well as staff were hosted after leaving their fire-stricken facilities.
No one was hurt in the blaze at the Colorado Jewish camp, which started at 2 a.m. Monday and also spread to some nearby trees.
“Yesterday’s events could not destroy the ruach (spirit) of our amazing community, and a huge, impromptu Israeli dance party broke out following dinner. To witness the resilience and positivity of the campers, staff, and HEA (Hebrew Educational Alliance) volunteers has been truly inspiring. People opened their homes, donated their time, and sent their prayers and blessings from all over the world,” the camp wrote in an update on its website Tuesday.
Money and passports belonging to campers and staff were stored in fireproof safes on the second floor of the building that burned down, but cell phones and other electronics were kept in a locked closet in the same building and were lost in the fire, the camp said.
The update on Tuesday also said that the camp was able to save one of its Torah scrolls, but that a second Torah scroll on loan from the Hebrew Educational Alliance in Denver was destroyed in the fire.
The camp has started a rebuilding fund and said that its lay leaders are developing a plan to ensure that camp will open next summer with a functional kitchen and dining hall.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Most Popular
- 1
Culture Trump wants to honor Hannah Arendt in a ‘Garden of American Heroes.’ Is this a joke?
- 2
Opinion The dangerous Nazi legend behind Trump’s ruthless grab for power
- 3
Opinion A Holocaust perpetrator was just celebrated on US soil. I think I know why no one objected.
- 4
Culture Did this Jewish literary titan have the right idea about Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling after all?
In Case You Missed It
-
Culture In a Haredi Jerusalem neighborhood, doctors’ visits are free, but the wait may cost you
-
Fast Forward Chicago mayor donned keffiyeh for Arab Heritage Month event, sparking outcry from Jewish groups
-
Fast Forward The invitation said, ‘No Jews.’ The response from campus officials, at least, was real.
-
Fast Forward Latvia again closes case against ‘Butcher of Riga,’ tied to mass murder of Jews
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.