Winds ease California wildfires

Calmer winds in southern California have helped firefighters battling sprawling acres of wildfires for the past five days.

However, officials have warned that it may be a few more days before the fires - to the north, north-west and south of Los Angeles - are under control.

Gusts of 70mph (115km/h) at the weekend dropped to 20mph (32km/h) by Monday, the National Weather Service told AP.

A fire chief told the LA Times there were "several days of hard work" ahead.

"The overall big picture is we're encouraged by the weather," California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection incident commander Ray Chaney told the Los Angeles Times.

"We're not going to let our guard down. We've got several days of hard, hard work."

The fires have destroyed hundreds of homes, prompting the evacuation of 50,000 people.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has declared states of emergency in Orange, Riverside, Los Angeles and Santa Barbara counties.

See map of California wildfires

With the calmer winds helping firefighters, a spokeswoman for Orange County Fire Authority, Angela Garbiso, told AP: "It's wonderful news.

"When it calms down, it obviously makes it easier for us to handle this massive undertaking."

More than 800 homes, ranging from multi-million dollar mansions to more modest mobile homes, have been destroyed.

On Monday, residents of the Oakridge Mobile Home Park in Sylmar, northern Los Angeles, where almost 500 homes were destroyed on Saturday, will be allowed back briefly to inspect the debris.

No deaths have been reported from the fires, but search dogs have been used to check if anyone died in the fast-moving fires.

The causes of the fires were being investigated, but one official at the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said the Santa Barbara-area fire, which swept through the wealthy Montecito area, was "human caused".

CALIFORNIA FIRES
The fires in southern California are burning in three main locations:

• TRIANGLE COMPLEX: Orange County between Corona and Yorba Linda. Fire has consumed 23,722 acres as of 17 November and is currently 19% contained. About 150 homes destroyed, 1,200 firefighters tackling the blaze
• SAYRE: Los Angeles County nr Sylmar. Fire has consumed 10,077 acres and is currently 40% contained. Some 630 buildings and 500 mobile homes were destroyed on Saturday.
• TEA: Santa Barbara County, nr Montecito. Fire has consumed 1,940 acres and is 80% contained. Some 130 buildings in Santa Barbara, and another 80 in Montecito - home to many celebrities - destroyed

Source: Calfire
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