TWO people have been found dead as a pair of wildfires stretched from inland canyons to the Pacific in southern California, leaving people sifting through the remains of their homes for anything they had left.

The two bodies were found severely burned inside a car on a long residential driveway in Malibu, Los Angeles County sheriff’s chief John Benedict said.

Most of the surrounding structures were levelled.

The number of people killed in the wildfires is now 25, with 23 found dead in northern California.

Firefighters have saved thousands of homes despite working in “extreme, tough fire conditions that they said they have never seen in their life”, Los Angeles County fire chief Daryl Osby said.

Those vicious conditions on Friday night gave way to a calm Saturday. No new growth was reported on the larger of the two fires, which stands at 109 square miles, and firefighters now have the blaze 5% contained.

Progress also came against the smaller fire, prompting Ventura County officials to allow people in a handful of communities to return to their homes.

Hundreds of thousands remain under evacuation orders, which may remain as winds pick up again.