Satellite image of Southern California wildfires

Wildfires raging in Southern California over the last several days have destroyed hundreds of homes and forced hundreds of thousands of people to evacuate. A dozen or more fires have burned more than 500 square miles in an area extending from Los Angeles to San Diego.

On Wednesday, President Bush declared that a major disaster exists in seven Southern California counties, thus making federal funds available to state and local recovery efforts.

This satellite image from Monday afternoon, with smoke billowing out over the Pacific Ocean, gives an indication of the extent of the fires (outlined in red).

The San Diego Union-Tribune has published an unofficial list of structures that were lost in the fires in the San Diego area.