Flames fanned by hurricane-force winds blackened nearly 650 square miles, destroying more than 2,000 homes in their path.

The scope of the disaster was also unprecedented in California history as homes and businesses from north of Los Angeles to the Mexican border were reduced to smoldering ruins.

Wealthy and impoverished citizens alike were brought together in evacuation centers, quickly set up by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s office even before the magnitude of the “perfect firestorm” was apparent.

In many places, the heat and smoke were so intense that the 7,000 firefighters brought in from around the country could do little more than watch as structures were consumed by the conflagration.

Hot and blustery weather after a record-dry year set the stage for the more than 20 wildfires along California’s southern coast and mountains.

Santa Ana winds were channeled over the region by high barometric pressure centered over the Great Basin. As the air descended over the Southland, it became hotter and drier, stripping what little moisture was left in the ground and vegetation.

The dreaded winds, which regularly occur each autumn, have been responsible for the most destructive wildfires in California’s history. From outbreaks that fanned the Great Fire of 1889 to the wildfire disaster of 2003 that blackened nearly 700,000 acrew (280,000 hectares) of forest, the Santa Anas spark fear in longtime residents of the state each time they begin to blow.