The death toll continues to rise as fire fighters carry on their battle with the fire storms in California. After four days during which their mission was close to impossible, the weather has finally come to their aid as the winds, very strong until today, have slowed down and the temperature also dropped a bit.

The fire fighters found two scorched bodies in a burned home in San Diego’s vicinity. The cause of their death is not clear yet, but the corpses were found in a ruined house in Poway, California late Wednesday, the San Diego Union-Tribune newspaper reported.

In accordance with the statements released on Wednesday by Californian fire fighters officials, the crews managed to contain seven major blazes and although the largest fires around San Diego continue to burn, the winds begun to blow in another direction, thus sending them away from the populated areas.

The change in the weather conditions also permitted the rescue teams to return to the area struck by the fire storm in order to estimate the damages. According to latest official statements, the specialists have estimated that the damages would amount to more than 1 billion dollars in the San Diego, as 1,600 homes had been destroyed. Another 9,000 homes are still under fire threat.

Investigations regarding the cause of the fire were started in a joint operation which involves the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the local authorities. Police has lately reported the shooting and killing of an arson suspect who tried to start a fire in San Bernardino County. Another was arrested in San Diego for trying to start a blaze that was quickly put out
 
US President, George W Bush, declared the state of emergency and approximately 340,000 households had been ordered to evacuate making this evacuation the largest in California’s history. It was also the largest evacuation since Hurricane Katrina in 2005, but this time the government response was a lot faster and more efficient.

In accordance with the sayings of a White House official who spoke with Deutsche Presse-Agentur, President Bush was to visit the fire-struck region on Thursday.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was also forced to declare the state of emergency and mobilized all the state’s resources against the "perfect firestorm", as he labeled it.