Colorado Residents Return Home to Looters, Bears
Residents have begun returning to charred communities after the most destructive wildfires in Colorado history forced tens of thousands of people from their homes and left the landscape a blackened wasteland.
Bears and burglars posed further danger to home owners who headed back to towns and cities after the fires, which killed two people.
The so-called Waldo Canyon Fire scorched nearly 7,000 hectares and devastated communities around Colorado Springs, the state’s second-largest city.
Governor John Hickenlooper said he believed the worst was over and almost all of the seven blazes were under control.
“Now we’re beginning to look at how do we rebuild and begin the recovery,” Mr Hickenlooper told CNN.
“But we also know that Mother Nature can be pretty fickle out there so we’re keeping ourselves very alert.”
Two more houses were looted overnight for a total of 24 during the disaster that forced 35,000 residents to evacuate, authorities said.