Homes reduced to ashes, businesses in flames, and in the midst of the devastation, haggard residents: the California city of Altadena, ravaged Wednesday by a violent fire, looked like an area that has just been bombed. “This was our home,” William Gonzales told AFP, pointing to smouldering ruins where only embers and a chimney remain. “We have lost practically everything,” he sighed. “The flames have consumed all our dreams.” Swathes of the Los Angeles area have been ravaged since Tuesday by violent fires that have killed at least five people.