Wildfires Force Evacuations in L.A.

Fierce wildfires threatened Southern California for a third day Tuesday after leaving two people dead and heralding the start of the most intense period of the fire season here. The most severe fires, fanned by harsh dry Santa Ana winds typical of the fall, were burning several thousand acres at the rim of the San Fernando Valley. A homeless man and his dog died on Monday when fire engulfed the wood-and-cardboard shack where they lived along a freeway embankment, and another person died in a collision on a freeway ramp attributed at least in part to thick smoke shrouding the area. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]