Video: US President Barack Obama tours areas devastated in Colorado wildfire The US President announced federal financial assistance for the area to help rebuilding. Rescue crews were searching for human remains in the ashes of homes destroyed by the Waldo Canyon Fire, which blazed into the outskirts of the state's second largest city Colorado Springs earlier this week. The inferno destroyed at least 346 houses, forced some 36,000 residents to evacuate, and left at least two people dead, according to officials. It was threatening about 20,000 homes and 160 commercial buildings. Mr Obama saw the smoke from nearby fires as he flew into Colorado Springs aboard Air Force One, then inspected some of the devastation and praised the "courage and determination and professionalism" of firefighters. "They are genuine heroes," Mr Obama said, after he visited a neighbourhood where fires had struck indiscriminately, leaving some homes in ruins and others intact. Colorado Springs Police Chief Peter Carey said on Friday that a second body was found in the debris of a burned-out home. The discovery of the first was announced late on Thursday. Their deaths bring to six the number of people who have perished so far this year in a Colorado wildfire season described by the governor as the worst ever in the state.