Plymouth Business Owner, Husband Evacuated During Colorado Wildfires

When Roz Spencer and her husband, Roger, left Michigan in late June to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary with a trip to Manitou Springs, CO, the last place they thought they'd end up was in an evacuation center, escaping the escalating wildfires just 3-4 miles from where the couple was staying.

Roz Spencer, who owns in downtown Plymouth, said she and her husband were evacuated overnight from their stay at the Villa Motel in Manitou Springs, CO, and sent to a relief center at Cheyenne Mountain High School in Colorado Springs, CO.

Roz Spencer said she and her husband, who live in Belleville, left Michigan on June 22 — the couple's anniversary date — and arrived late on June 24. The plan was to ride motorcycles around the mountainous scenery, 50 miles north of Pueblo West, CO, where the couple had exchanged vows in 1987. 

The couple had barely gotten situated when they heard a knock at the door at 1 a.m., instructing them to leave the area.

"I'm so glad my husband had his wits about him," Roz Spencer said. "My thoughts were no, no, it's 1 a.m. — I was still half-asleep — I couldn't even imagine, we're on vacation, I couldn't believe this was happening."

Roz Spencer said her husband threw everything in the car and they arrived at the shelter at about 1:30 or 2 a.m., where they saw the American Red Cross and Salvation Army providing food, sleeping materials and other support for evacuees.

The Spencers' anniversary trip gone awry caught the attention of American Public Media's Marketplace program, in a story about the wildfires' affect on tourism. Roz Spencer was interviewed for the segment. 

She said the circumstances were taking a visible toll on residents of the tourist town.

"Our home wasn't in danger of burning, but these people were scared to death," Roz Spencer said. "It was kind of a scary time for a lot of the residents there."

Fortunately for the Manitou Springs residents, Roz Spencer said, the winds shifted directions, removing the town from the path of the wildfires.

Adjacent towns, however, were devastated by the fires, deemed the worst in the state's history. By today's count, 346 homes and two lives have been claimed by the wildfire, which now is 55 percent contained with full containment not expected until at least July 12, according to a report today by the Los Angeles Times.

The Spencers left June 26 after it was apparent the area was not ideal for a vacation — and after reports of displaced bears roaming along Manitou Avenue, Roz Spencer said.

Roz Spencer returned to work today in downtown Plymouth. Under normal circumstances, the couple still would be enjoying the sights and seeing Roz's stepson, Steven, who lives in the area.

This wasn't the couple first brush with catastrophe in that area, Roz Spencer said. After the couple's 1987 wedding, an incline ride broke down during a trip to the bottom of Royal Gorge in Cañon City, CO.

The two events haven't scared the couple off from returning to the area, however.

"I think we are returning in September," Roz Spencer said.