Rain Fails to Tame California Blazes

The death toll has risen to 22 in the wildfires that have been sweeping through southern California for nearly a week, with one of the 12,000 firefighters engaged in the battle against seven separate blazes among the latest victims.

Despite cooler weather and some drizzle, the fires continued to eat up properties in suburbs near Los Angeles and San Diego. They were yesterday threatening the resort area of Lake Arrowhead, where 350 homes were evacuated overnight. Police reported some looting of deserted properties, and squatters moving into abandoned homes.

Estimates of damage top $2bn (£1.17bn) in a state that is already facing financial problems. Around 275,000 hectares (675,000 acres) have been ablaze. Nearly 3,000 homes have been destroyed.

The firefighter who died was killed near the goldrush town of Julian, a resort some 40 miles from San Diego. Steve Rucker, 38, from Novato, Marin county, is thought to have suffocated as he tried to save homes.

His fire captain, Doug McDonald, was in a critical condition from burns suffered as he tried to rescue Mr Rucker.

Firefighters fear the death toll will rise when they find people who have been reported missing.

The political aspect of the fire came to the fore yesterday as the Senate was poised to pass a bill to loosen logging restrictions. The Bush administration has argued that fires are made more likely by environmental restrictions on logging.

The Californian fires have given the forest-thinning drive a new impetus. The Democrat senator Ron Wyden said: "If this legislation is not passed, we will see that repeated again and again."

Environmentalists say the fires are being used to push through pro-logging measures. The Democrat senator Tom Harkin said: "Ancient trees that were around before this country was could be logged... in the name of wildfire prevention."

The governor-elect, Arnold Schwarzengger, backed the federal government on the issue, but said many of the fires were not in forest areas. He was in Washington yesterday to call for additional federal aid. "We have to get help as soon as possible so we can control this fire, and also then rebuild the businesses and the homes," he said.

Two large fires in Colorado, one south of Denver and one near Jamestown, have led to the evacuation of 2,200 homes and businesses in the state.