SUPERIOR, Colo. — A memory that will last a lifetime from the Marshall Fire is shared between two neighbors because one stopped to rescue another during the worst wildfire to burn in the state.
On the day of the wildfire, Tracey Meyers, a Superior resident, said the smoke had already reached her neighborhood by the time others evacuated.
“I got back to my place around one and noticed that my courtyard was filling up with a lot of smoke,” Meyers said.
Through the heavy smoke and winds, Meyers put her dogs, Jaxson and Cooper in the car and began driving on McCaslin Boulevard.
“All of a sudden, my car died. It died," Meyers said. "I’m panicking a little bit going; what am I going to do. There are lots of people driving by. And so, I started to get out of my car trying to wave people down."
She was afraid she’d be lost in the smoke. But luckily, her neighbor Jamie Cook was nearby.
“I had just turned onto McCaslin and I had seen about three little bush fires on our way out. There were two cars stopped,” Cook said.
And in one of those cars, was Meyers.
“I looked over and she was panicking," Cook said. "So, I just told her to get in, she was like, ‘I have two dogs.’ And I was like ‘I don’t care come on,’” she said.
Sheer panic during her first fire evacuation.
“It’s almost like I needed her. To be honest I was really panicking,” Cook said.
A bond and memory these two will forever share. But Meyers still questions why her car failed her.
“The hardest part is knowing you rely on your car to get you out of situations where you know you’re in danger. And that faith you put in your car to do that it failed me that day. And so, my biggest concern is that I don’t want anybody else to go through this,” Meyers said.
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