Wildfires threaten to reduce thousands of California homes to ashes
CBSN
People living in the scenic forestlands of Northern California found themselves facing a weekend of fear as wildfires threatened to reduce thousands of homes to ashes.
The Dixie Fire that incinerated much of the gold rush-era town of Greenville has destroyed more than 180 homes and is threatening more than 10,000 buildings in the northern Sierra Nevada. It had engulfed an area larger than the size of New York City. It was the largest current wildland blaze in the nation and the third-largest in recorded California history, according to the state Department of Fire and Forestry Protection.Ashley White received her earliest combat action badge from the United States Army soon after the first lieutenant arrived in Afghanistan. The silver military award, recognizing soldiers who've been personally engaged by an attacker during conflict, was considered an achievement in and of itself as well as an affirming rite of passage for the newly deployed. White had earned it for using her own body to shield a group of civilian women and children from gunfire that broke out in the midst of her third mission in Kandahar province. All of them survived. She never mentioned the badge to anyone in her battalion.