Wildfires fanned by strong, dry winds have scorched vast swathes of California for a fourth consecutive day.

Firefighters have been making the most of calmer winds on Sunday but with flames covering an surface area of up to ten thousand acres, they say they need more help from mother nature.

Neither the celebrity mansions in the north-west Santa Barbara county or rows of mobile homes in Sylmar have been spared. No deaths have yet been reported but search and rescue teams have not yet been able to operate. More than 10,000 people have had to flee their homes. State governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said the devastated areas “looked like hell.”

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