Barbara Lawlor, Boulder County. They were coming up Boulder Canyon Saturday afternoon before the heat of the day began to cool down in the canyon shadows, when the driver of the vehicle smelled smoke. Not the camping kind of smoke. The dangerous kind of smoke.

He pulled over to the side of the road just above the narrows to take a look. Kneeling in the hot dirt of the shoulder he saw flames licking out from under the vehicle. It didn’t take long for him and the passenger to grab their stuff and get away from the smoldering car before it became engulfed in flames. “It was crackling and popping,” said Nederland Police Officer Darragh O’Nuallain, describing the fire after he arrived.

Nederland Fire Protection District firefighters were at the site within minutes and able to contain the fire to the vehicle and keep any flames from spreading. Both lanes of the canyon were closed until the vehicle fire was totally smothered. Patrol units were able to direct one-way traffic until the charred metal skeleton was hauled out of the road.