Two dead in California wildfires

Two people are dead, and 300,000 have been evacuated in San Dieago alone, as wildfires burned unchecked across Southern California for a third day.

A 52-year-old man died in the fires in San Diego County on Sunday afternoon and an unidentified civilian died of burns in a fire in Santa Clarita, the US Forest Service said.

President George Bush declared an emergency in the state early on Tuesday and authorized the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate disaster relief in the seven counties affected.

Some 350,000 acres (140,000 hectares) have been scorched, stretching fire crews and state emergency services. But federal authorities said the emergency response was well under control.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger summoned aid from 1,500 National Guard troops to help with firefighting, evacuations and crowd control.

San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders told people to "stay at home, stay off the freeways" so fire crews and evacuees could keep moving as the winds changed course. He said about 1,000 homes in San Diego County had been destroyed.

The firestorms closed major state highways, schools and businesses and plumes of thick black smoke drifted across much of Southern California, blotting out the sun.

Officials said people were cooperating and evacuating quickly, resulting in minimal loss of life, as they remembered the last major fire in 2003 when 15 people died and 5,000 buildings were destroyed.

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