A wildfire tore through Los Angeles’ northern foothills early today sending thousands of residents fleeing in the dark, forcing a hospital to evacuate and destroying an untold number of homes.

A record heatwave has led to the deaths of 18 people, most of them homeless, leaving officials in Phoenix, Arizona, scrambling to provide water and shelter to the city’s transient population.

A little girl who fell into a pool and started breathing again 40 minutes after she was declared dead has suffered a severe and probably irreversible brain injury, doctors said.