Wildfires in Southern California make Bush sign major disaster declaration

A man accused of setting a small brush fire in a rural area of the San Bernardino Mountains was booked for investigation of arson. However, San Bernardino County sheriff's spokeswoman Cindy Beavers said authorities do not know if he is connected to any of the region's wildfires.

So far, the fires have inflicted the worst damage in San Diego County, where five blazes continued to burn. The largest fire had charred 196,420 acres (79,490 hectares)- about 300 square miles (777 sq. kilometers) from Witch Creek to Rancho Santa Fe, destroying 650 homes, businesses and other buildings. Other hard-hit areas included San Bernardino County, where hundreds of homes burned in the mountain resort communities near Lake Arrowhead.