Wednesday · November 11, 2026
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American history, reported as it happened
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20121776 Club

Waldo Canyon fire levels 346 homes in twelve hours; two found dead in Mountain Shadows

William Everett, 74, and his wife Barbara, 73, are among the dead as 32,000 Colorado Springs residents flee evacuation orders.

The summer of 2012 had left Colorado Springs bone-dry and tinder-ready when a fire ignited northwest of the city on the afternoon of June 22. Driven by erratic winds and steep terrain, the Waldo Canyon fire exploded to 600 acres by mid-afternoon on June 23, then crossed Rampart Range Road two days later — pushed, by one account, by a flaming deer that leaped across the road. By late afternoon on June 26, 346 homes in the Mountain Shadows neighborhood had burned to the ground within twelve hours, more than 32,000 residents were under evacuation orders, and two people — William Everett, 74, and his wife Barbara, 73 — were dead…

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