A wave of residents returned to their southern California mountain communities following a week of wildfires that have killed 20 people and destroyed more than 3,400 homes.

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

WITH wind-driven flames threatening the densely populated San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles, firefighters dug in yesterday for another brutal day of battling one of the most destructive and deadly wildfire seasons in Californian state history.