US fire death toll at two as Obama tours zone

COLORADO SPRINGS: A shocked US President Barack Obama on Friday toured "heartbroken" Colorado neighborhoods torched by rampaging wildfires that have destroyed hundreds of homes and left two dead.

Crews are still 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 has destroyed at least 346 houses and forced some 36,000 residents to evacuate, according to officials. It is still threatening some 20,000 homes and 160 commercial buildings.

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.

Colorado Springs police chief Peter Carey announced a second death Friday, after a first body was found late Thursday. The remains of both victims were found in the same burned-out house.