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Pittsburgh Native Impacted By Waldo Canyon Fire

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KDKA) -- Eric Shaw is from Pittsburgh, but his duty station with the Air Force is Colorado Springs -- mere miles from the gargantuan Waldo Canyon fire.

"To watch it get worse and worse and worse and know that there is not a whole lot you can do about it, it was frustrating the first two days," he said.

It started June 9th. Three people have died. More than 600 homes have been destroyed.

"Unfortunately on that last Tuesday, we lost all those homes and it was at that point that people kicked it into overdrive with volunteerism and donating and just doing everything they could to just make sure that that fire didn't attack us again," Shaw said.

We met Shaw back in January before his beloved Steelers took on Tim Tebow and the Broncos. He says he feels the same can-do spirit of the Steeler nation in the people of Colorado Springs.

"Large military population, large retiree population from the government and military, large government services," he said.

"And when that thing was happening the first initial reaction was to go fight back," Shaw continued. "Everybody wanted to go grab pick axes and shovels and head to the hills -- not to run from it but to run to it to save the town out here."

RELATED LINKS
CBS Denver: Waldo Canyon Fire Photos
More Reports By Rick Dayton

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