THE Boy Scouts of America have been slapped with two lawsuits demanding the organisation cover the $14 million (€11.25m) it cost to fight a June 2002 blaze it claims scouts started in Wyoming.

Thousands of people were evacuated today as California firefighters battled to save homes from a wildfire that grew rapidly during the night.

A second group of residents forced to flee their houses by Southern California’s wildfires were being allowed to return home today.

CHILLY temperatures and dense fog helped stall the deadly wildfires that raced across Southern California yesterday as a few hardy residents waited nervously to see if the flames would claim the last sizeable town still under threat.

Wildfires merged into walls of flame stretching across miles in parts of Southern California, leaving 13 people dead, burning 650 homes and frustrating overmatched firefighters who worked relentlessly against fierce winds.

A WILDFIRE destroyed four homes and forced about 250 people to flee their homes as it roared through 1,100 acres of rolling, oak-studded hills, US authorities said last night.

Record-setting temperatures were today scorching California and the West sparking fears of power failures and more wildfires.

A wildfire raging east of Los Angeles overran two fire engine crews, burning three people and shutting down the main road between Southern California and Las Vegas.