'Thought I was going to die': Survivors of 2020 Labor Day fires reflect on devastating inferno

'Thought I was going to die': Survivors of 2020 Labor Day fires reflect on devastating inferno

DETROIT, Ore. (KOIN) -- Drive through the small tourist town of Detroit these days, and it looks far different than five years ago. The town was nearly destroyed during the devastating 2020 Labor Day fires that swept across parts of Oregon, particularly in the Santiam Canyon. "I'll never forget these words, [deputies] said, ‘Leave now, take nothing,”’ said Debbie Bowman, a local for 47 years. Bowman and her husband barely escaped that fateful ni…