Colo. fire destroys 346 homes this week

Colo. fire destroys 346 homes this week

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.

A raging Colorado wildfire that forced tens of thousands to flee destroyed an estimated 346 homes this week, making it the most destructive fire in the state’s history, officials said Thursday.

From above, the destruction becomes painfully clear: Rows and rows of houses were reduced to smoldering ashes even as some homes just feet away survived largely intact.

On one street, all but three houses had burned to their foundations, said Ryan Schneider, whose home is still standing in a neighborhood where 51 others were destroyed.

Holocaust-survivor pageant in Israel

HAIFA, Israel

Fourteen women who survived the horrors of World War II paraded Thursday in an unusual pageant, vying for the honor of being crowned Israel’s first “Miss Holocaust Survivor.”

Billed by organizers as a celebration of life, the event also stirred controversy. In a country where millions have been touched by the Holocaust, many argued that judging aging women who had suffered so much on physical appearance was inappropriate, and even offensive.

“It sounds totally macabre to me,” said Colette Avital, chairwoman of Israel’s leading Holocaust survivors’ umbrella group.

Pageant organizer Shimon Sabag rejected the criticism, saying the winners were chosen based on their personal stories of survival and rebuilding their lives after the war, and physical beauty was only a tiny part of the competition.

1 dead, 2 wounded in base shooting

FORT BRAGG, N.C.

One soldier was fatally wounded and two others injured in a shooting at Fort Bragg on Thursday afternoon.

During a unit safety briefing around 3:30 p.m., a soldier shot and killed another member of the unit before turning the gun on himself, according to Fort Bragg officials. A third soldier nearby was also “slightly” injured.

NBC News, citing a “senior U.S. defense official,” reported Thursday evening that the dead soldier was a battalion commander.

Combined dispatches