Firefighters battling a major wildfire in Southern California surrounded most of the blaze overnight Friday, a fire official said Saturday, as evacuated residents began to return to a region where dozens of homes were destroyed by a series of fires.
In all, nearly a dozen fires scorched about 20,000 acres (8,093 hectares) of drought-parched brush across San Diego county this past week. As firefighters brought several of the blazes under control, a man was charged Friday with one count of arson in connection with one of the smaller fires.