Neighbors help put out separate fire as Marshall Fire loomed in background

BOULDER COUNTY, Colo. — As the Marshall Fire inched closer and closer Thursday to homes in the Fairview Estates neighborhood, an entirely separate fire stole the attention.

"Seeing how fast it was spreading was the scariest part," Kathryn Pancost said Sunday.

She was one of many who helped put out a fire on Fairview Road near North 76th Street while firefighters were busy elsewhere.

They believe the same strong winds that allowed the Marshall Fire to spread so quickly blew a nearby tree into power lines, igniting a fire.

"We saw fire, just fire, coming across the road. Just this big explosion, huge flames," Pancost recalled.

Using buckets, shovels, hoses and even her uncle's water truck, neighbors quickly stepped in to help prevent the fire from spreading any closer to homes.

"There was a quite a few people [helping]," Pancost said. "I don't know where they all came."

Kathy Moran and her children were among the group of people taking action.

"It was just, like, minutes to minutes to get things done," she said.

The house they live in was just feet from what could have been a devastating fire, as it raced through their nearby pasture and jumped a creek. But thanks to everyone's quick thinking, they still have a place to call home.

"So lucky that the neighbors were home and [my daughter] was home when my son was here and that we were able to stop it with all the neighbors' help," Moran said. "We're so grateful, yeah. None of the structures got burns. We are very, very lucky."

The fire may have burned their pasture and charred some fence posts, but the damage pales in comparison with the destruction it could have easily caused with the wind as its fuel.

"We're good," Moran said. "We have a house to be in."