Mountain Shadows neighborhood almost recovered after Waldo Canyon

One hundred degree temperatures and 65 miles per hour winds fueled the Waldo Canyon Fire four years ago.

“Something that was really kind of unprecedented at the time to see fire burning down hill at 50 mph coming toward your community,” said Interim Fire Chief Ted Collas of the Color ado Springs Fire Department.

Bill Wysong and his wife had been watching the progress of the fire, but didn’t expect it to come toward their house

“You just never thought it would come down the hill and engulf the neighborhood,” Wysong said.

Wysong says that within a half an hour the fire went from being not even visible to over the ridge and in his neighbors backyard.

“Out of 12 homes on the street, nine homes were burned completely to the ground,” Wysong said.

Now four years later the community is recovering and is 90 percent rebuilt.

“The community really came to our rescue so to speak, people have their hearts, their money, their efforts, their sweat, their tears,” said Eddie Hurt, Mountain Shadows Community Association President.

And the fire department continues to train and be as prepared as possible.

“Our firefighters are prepared to handle all of those things and we do have across the board training in multi-disciplines,” Collas said.

But the land is still scarred and so are the people.

“Even today when you look out and you see all the black tree trunks, compared to what it used to be it was just a beautiful forested hillside,” Wysong said.