SUPERIOR, Colo. — It’s been nearly three months since the Marshall Fire and the stories of the community's resilience are scattered across Boulder County.
Denver7 spoke with one fire victim who shared his plans to move forward after a lifelong dream he worked hard to build was destroyed in the flames.
Tom Knox escaped the flames of the Marshall Fire on Dec. 30 and when he returned there was nothing left of his home.
Inside his house, was a dream - decades in the making.
“It’s hard, if nothing else, it was my life savings,” said Knox. “I would say as far an individual owning something like this, it's pretty unique. I mean, not many people are, you know, willing to, I think invest everything.”
Knox had built a technology research lab he was using to develop products to help enhance the tools we use every day.
“For example, when on your phone, when you aren't getting fast enough data rates on your phone--when your cell phone drops a call? This is all related to precision, time and frequency. And so the more you can enhance that, the better the performance is going to be,” he said.
He had also planned to eventually pass the lab and equipment along to the next generation.
“Engineering students or electrical engineers or people doing electronics-type related physics, to actually have a state-of-the-art lab. So as they graduate, they can go and design their ideas and build their dreams,” he added.
Everything Knox worked on so hard on for nearly 30 years vanished in seconds.
Despite losing it all, Tom says this is not stopping him.
“I’m not going to give up my dreams. Those challenges you face in life, define us as human beings. If I can do this, you know, then I can prove to other people that you can do it even with a really, really tough situation. Can you go turn it around and go forward? You know, I’m convinced I can do it. I”m really optimistic going forward," said Knox.
Tom is still in the process of finding housing, which he shared has been challenging.
However, he said he plans to continue working on launching his products as soon as he's able to. He hopes to inspire others with his story.
Tom has launched a GoFundMe to help with his rebuilding process.
