A massive California wildfire moved toward a mountain resort town and a national forest today and threatened to combine with a second blaze.
California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has declared a state of emergency for San Bernardino County as a result of massive wildfires which threaten residential areas.
Fire crews tried to draw battle lines at the western edge of the raging fire - which has already scorched over 40,000 acres and destroyed nearly 100 buildings in the California desert north of Palm Springs - before it reached the mountain community of Big Bear Lake.
State officials also worried about the wind-fuelled flames reaching stands of dead trees in the San Bernardino National Forest, and the possible meeting between the huge fire and a 2,000-acre blaze burning nearby.
The so-called Sawtooth fire, which was ignited by lightning strikes on Sunday, was moving very quickly, fuelled by temperatures near 100 degrees, humidity below 20 per cent and hot gusts of wind.
The blaze, which 1,300 firefighters struggled to contain, produced huge plumes of black and gray smoke visible as far away as Nevada.