Police shoot dead 'arsonist' as FBI reveals California fires were started deliberately

The news came as two burned bodies were found in a San Diego area home, bringing the death toll in California's five days of wildfires up to at least eight, officials said today.

San Diego County Sheriff Bill Kolender said the bodies were found in Poway, a town engulfed by the big Witch fire in the northern part of the county, and had not yet been identified.

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Armageddon: With the sun blocked out by smoke and flames, LA looked like the set of a summer blockbuster disaster movie last night

Trails of destruction: A satellite shot of southern California shows the scale of the fires

One death from the wildfires was reported in southern San Diego on Sunday.

At least five other people, mostly senior citizens, have died in the evacuation of half a million people, the largest in California's modern history.

Police said officers killed a man, a suspected arsonist, during a chase as he tried to escape when challenged in the city of San Bernardino.

A motorcyclist who police say set a small fire in the foothills of the San Bernardino Mountains was arrested but investigators said they did not know whether he was connected to any of the larger fires.

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California has changed hue, one resident says

Last house standing: On one side of the street almost all the homes lie in ruins

FBI agents confirmed that a huge fire in the town of Santiago in Orange County that destroyed 10 homes was started on purpose in two different places.

A £35,000 reward was offered for information to trace the arsonists today as a break in the weather finally allowed firefighters to make progress after virtually conceding defeat to the series of wildfires that have been fanned by fierce winds.

President Bush arrived in California after declaring the country's worst nightmare since Hurricane Katrina a "major disaster".

Insurance companies estimated that property worth more than £600 million has been destroyed in four days of fires.

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Out of control: High winds drive hot embers through the scrub in the Malibu Hills, spreading the blaze area wider and wider

Firefighters battled blindly through the smoke

More than 1,500 homes and more than 700 square miles of land have been scorched across five counties, from Ventura in the north all the way down to Mexico. The office of emergency services said 28,000 homes were still threatened.

Many residents along the coastline from Malibu to San Diego, through the inland canyons to the mountain playgrounds of Lake Arrowhead and Running Springs, returned home last night to find just burning rubble.

Thousands more waited anxiously in makeshift evacuation camps, not knowing if they had lost everything they own.

The improving weather has allowed for a greater aerial assault on the flames with helicopters and air tankers dropping tons of water.

Just one death has been directly attributed to the fires, a man who refused to leave his home, although six others died during the evacuations and about 50 people have been injured, including 20 firefighters.

Firefighters yell orders as they train the hoses on the smouldering rubble

A shocked woman speaks on her mobile, her back to the still-smoking ruins