‘Devil’s Breath’ fans the flames in drought region

HOT, dry Santa Ana winds have fanned the blazes which have ravaged southern California this week.

Sometimes referred to as “the Devil’s Breath”, the winds of about 160km/h have stoked the fires and hampered efforts to tackle the blazes from the air.

US President George W Bush said: “I wish we could control the wind, because one of the things that’s hampering our joint capability of fighting these fires is the strong westerly winds.”