As wildfires sweep through parts of California, residents are increasingly choosing to ignore evacuation orders rather than head to safety, officials said.

A wildfire that forced 1,500 homes in Southern California to be evacuated spread to nearly two square miles and destroyed two mobile homes today.

Rescuers found the bodies of seven people and continued searching for at least nine others missing since mudslides engulfed two camps in southern California.

RESCUE crews slogged past fallen trees and boulders in an overnight search for at least 10 people trapped when a mudslide triggered by heavy rains swept over a foothill forest recently scorched by wildfire.