Two-thirds of Colo. wildfire evacuees back home

Last Updated 12:36 p.m. ET

(CBS/AP) COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- About 10,000 people remained displaced by the most destructive wildfire in Colorado history Saturday, a day after President Obama visited the scene and called it a "major disaster."

Two burned bodies have been found so far. Police say fewer than 10 people may be unaccounted for.

The Waldo Canyon fire at the edge of Colorado Springs - home of the flagship U.S. Olympic Committee training center - was 30 percent contained. Its danger has kept investigators from visiting the area where the fire broke out on June 23 to determine the cause.

More than 30,000 people initially were evacuated, and more than 350 homes have burned. The two bodies were found in the ruins of one house. The victims' names haven't been released.

"It looks like hell. I would imagine it felt like a nuclear bomb went off. There was fire everywhere," said exhausted firefighter Rich Rexach, who had been working 12-hour days since Tuesday.

On Sunday, many remaining evacuees will begin to get a look at what firefighters have been seeing: they'll start touring their burned-out neighborhoods by bus, to see what's left.

The weather was expected to take a slight turn for the worse Saturday after three straight days of favorable firefighting conditions, but officials are still optimistic they can increase containment by the end of the day, according to CBS Affiliate KKTV in Colorado Springs.

Incident Commander Rich Harvey said Saturday would be a tougher day than the last few, with hot temperatures, dry air, and the potential of thunderstorm and erratic wind testing expected to test the existing containment lines.

"If you pass the test it's a great day, if you don't do so well on the test it leaves you a lot of work to catch up," Harvey said, before expressing his confidence in the nearly 1,300 firefighters currently working the fire, which has consumed some 17,000 acres - the same as it's been for the past two days, notes CBS News correspondent Anna Werner.

Mr. Obama's visit Friday was seen as a partly political one, as the western state will be one of the top battlegrounds in November's presidential election. Polls show the race is close between the president Obama and presumptive Republican challenger Mitt Romney.

"Whether it's fires in Colorado or flooding in the northern parts of Florida, when natural disasters like this hit, America comes together," Mr. Obama said after touring a neighborhood where the fire left some homes standing.

He met a handful of evacuees but spent most of his time with firefighters or state and local officials.

Colorado, with huge swaths of independent-minded voters, holds significant political weight. In a tight election, its nine electoral votes could make the difference between a win or a loss in the state-by-state fight for the White House. Mr. Obama won Colorado in 2008.

Every decision the president makes to visit a disaster zone is done under the shadow of former President George W. Bush's botched response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, which irrevocably damaged his presidency.

Mr. Bush was widely criticized as detached and uncaring when he viewed the flooding of New Orleans from the air rather than meeting with people on the ground. White House officials said at the time that they didn't want his presence to distract from recovery efforts.

To see the report Werner filed earlier, click on the video below: