Bush tours California wildfire damage

President Bush toured the damage caused by the California wildfires Thursday. Federal and local authorities have also indicated that some of the wildfires were caused by arson.

Authorities are seeking the public’s help in their arson investigations.

Firefighters — aided by the calming Santa Ana winds and dropping temperatures — fought to contain some of the most severe fires.

Some evacuees in San Diego County were being allowed back into their neighborhoods, and shelters were emptying.

Returning evacuee John Gustafson said, “It feels good to be able to walk into our house and see that everything was there as we left it very early Monday morning.”

But not everyone was as lucky.

President Bush in southern California to get a first-hand look at the devastation. He walked through the rubble with Jay and Kendra Jeffcoate, whose home in Rancho Bernardo was completely destroyed.

Meanwhile, in Trabuco Canyon, Orange County, 3,000 homes are still being threatened. And in Running Springs crews used bulldozers to create fire breaks.

Bulldozers are used to clear a pathway between the burn area and the unburned area; they form the firebreak that contains the fire.

A San Diego Gas and Electric helicopter — while checking power lines — crashed in Ramona. Four people on board all walked away

And in San Bernardino police shot an arson suspect to death when they tried to check if he was trying to set a fire Tuesday

Authorities also discovered the bodies of two people in Poway believed to have been killed in the wildfires. That brings the total number of deaths to eight.