United States:Thousands of Californians returned to their homes yesterday as firefighters reported progress in battling wildfires near San Diego, but a fire in Orange County, which is believed to have been started deliberately, remained out of control.
A stadium in San Diego which sheltered more than 10,000 evacuees earlier this week started winding down its emergency operation yesterday as almost everyone had gone home.
Cooler temperatures and calmer winds have enabled fire crews to put out or contain most of the 23 fires that have erupted since Sunday, triggering the biggest evacuation in California's history.
Nine fires were still active yesterday and spokeswoman for California's office of emergency services Rochelle Jenkins, said that although firefighters were encouraged by the change in the weather, they remained vigilant.
"The weather has enabled the fire personnel to make great progress but there is still a long way to go. The weather is helping but we have to plan for the worst and hope for the best, and that is how we will be proceeding in the days ahead," she said.
Lower winds allowed helicopters and tanker planes to fly non-stop, dropping water and fire retardants on blazes across the region, part of an emergency effort involving more than 10,000 firefighters.
Officials said that seven deaths had been directly related to the fires, including those of three men and a woman whose charred remains were found in a rugged region near the Mexican border. The officials said the four dead may have been illegal immigrants attempting to cross the border.
The Santiago fire in Orange County continued to rage yesterday. Fire authorities called the blaze, which appears to have been started deliberately, "very active" with "extreme rates of speed". The reward for help leading to the conviction of the arsonist who started the 27,000-acre blaze rose to $250,000 yesterday. "The FBI will bring to bear all of its national resources . . . to make sure that we track, apprehend and put this person or persons behind bars where they belong," said special agent Herb Brown.
A show of the federal government's support came on Thursday when President George Bush toured the devastated area with California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, but the state has came under criticism for failing to deploy sufficient aerial support in the crucial first hours.
Almost two dozen water-dropping helicopters and two cargo aircraft were prevented from taking part in the emergency operation by government rules and bureaucracy. The navy, marine and California national guard helicopters were grounded for a day partly because state rules require all firefighting choppers to be accompanied by state forestry "fire spotters", who co-ordinate water or retardant drops. By the time those spotters arrived, the high winds made it too dangerous to fly.
While the White House has trumpeted the contrast between the swift federal response this week and its slow reaction to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, critics have suggested this had more to do with the wealth of many Californian victims compared to the poverty of New Orleans victims.
