Wildfires in Southern California have been a problem since last year, and last week the forests set ablaze once again, destroying thousands of homes. Residents were permitted back in the area today after a firestorm swept through the dehydrated canyons and hillsides. Some found their houses in ruins.

"It was really hard when we first got here. It was shocking. We were all crying," Brittany Fowler, 23, told Reuters as she stared at her family's burnt possessions amongst the rubble in Orange County. Before she left, she remembered feeling "the heat and "saw little ember pieces flying by and we just said we've got to go. She said she "kept looking around, thinking I'll miss you house." She has stern plans to rebuild, like many residents in the area. A record breaking wind of 90 degrees Fahrenheit (30 Celsius) is meant to ease up today, but several small fires continued to burn Sunday night.

The wildfires are responsible for the destruction of more than 20,000 acres since Thursday evening "in foothills north of Los Angeles, in Orange County canyons to the south-east, and in celebrity-heavy Montecito near Santa Barbara, to the north." (Dan Whitcomb and Jill Serjeant, Reuters) Every type of home from trailer to mansion is among the estimated 1,000 destroyed. Around 50,000 people fled the area as fire-fighters assured the community it would take days to put out the blaze. No deaths or injuries have been reported.

This disaster marks a nearly two year drought for Southern California, which has turned the terrain into a "tinder box." At the same time, the area has seen a population growth and more housing developments.

Global Warming is thought to be the culprit, as it's caused higher winter temperatures and less rainfall. In October of last year, 30 fires were recorded in the same area, forcing the evacuation "of more than 500,000 people and damaging some 2,000 homes." The fire season is only meant to last from June to October, which is a similar problem to the growing hurricane seasons on the Gulf coast.