More cars have been set on fire in suspected arson attacks in the Los Angeles area and authorities are investigating whether they are connected to nearly two dozen that were deliberately set alight a day earlier, police said.

Los Angeles appeared surrounded by flames today, with three wildfires consuming spacious mansions and tiny mobile homes at the edges where bone-dry wilderness meets burgeoning development.

Three people have died in an early-morning three-way train collision in the Los Angeles suburb of Glendale.