Wildfires whipped by powerful winds swept through California wine country on Monday, killing at least 10 people and injuring at least 100.

True colour images taken by equipment aboard NASA's Aqua satellite showed columns of smoke from the wildfires clouding the skies over the state.

The flames destroyed 1,500 homes and businesses and sent thousands fleeing, according to authorities.

The fires broke out nearly simultaneously and then exploded overnight, sending residents fleeing as embers rained down and flames raged around them.

Two hospitals in Santa Rosa, the largest city in the region with 175,000 people, were forced to evacuate patients.

Later in the day, fires from ruptured gas lines dotted the smoky landscapes of blackened Santa Rosa hillsides.

The large majority of the injured were treated for smoke inhalation, according to St. Joseph Health, which operates hospitals in the Santa Rosa area.

The number of injured was expected to climb as information comes in for all the other areas affected by the firestorm consuming the state.

The flames were unforgiving throughout Santa Rosa, torching block after block with little to salvage.

Hundreds of homes in the Fountain Grove area were leveled by flames so hot they melted the glass off of cars and turned aluminum wheels into liquid.

The fires throughout the region were among the deadliest in California history, and fire officials expected the number of fatalities to increase.

Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency in Napa, Sonoma, Butte, Lake, Mendocino, Nevada and Yuba counties.

Authorities imposed a sunset-to-sunrise curfew in Santa Rosa, saying they were on the lookout for looters.

NASA - MUST COURTESY NASA

California - 9 October 2017

1. STILLS (2x) Satellite images of smoke from wildfires over California

2. STILL Satellite image of smoke from wildfires, annotated with placenames

Wildfires whipped by powerful winds swept through California wine country on Monday, killing at least 10 people and injuring at least 100.

True colour images taken by equipment aboard NASA's Aqua satellite showed columns of smoke from the wildfires clouding the skies over the state.

The flames destroyed 1,500 homes and businesses and sent thousands fleeing, according to authorities.

The fires broke out nearly simultaneously and then exploded overnight, sending residents fleeing as embers rained down and flames raged around them.

Two hospitals in Santa Rosa, the largest city in the region with 175,000 people, were forced to evacuate patients.

Later in the day, fires from ruptured gas lines dotted the smoky landscapes of blackened Santa Rosa hillsides.

The large majority of the injured were treated for smoke inhalation, according to St. Joseph Health, which operates hospitals in the Santa Rosa area.

The number of injured was expected to climb as information comes in for all the other areas affected by the firestorm consuming the state.

The flames were unforgiving throughout Santa Rosa, torching block after block with little to salvage.

Hundreds of homes in the Fountain Grove area were leveled by flames so hot they melted the glass off of cars and turned aluminum wheels into liquid.

The fires throughout the region were among the deadliest in California history, and fire officials expected the number of fatalities to increase.

Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency in Napa, Sonoma, Butte, Lake, Mendocino, Nevada and Yuba counties.

Authorities imposed a sunset-to-sunrise curfew in Santa Rosa, saying they were on the lookout for looters.

NASA - MUST COURTESY NASA

California - 9 October 2017

1. STILLS (2x) Satellite images of smoke from wildfires over California

2. STILL Satellite image of smoke from wildfires, annotated with placenames

STORYLINE

With major European economies on the brink of collapse, leaders concluding an annual Group of 20 meeting sought on Tuesday to reassure the world that they would find a way to put out the debt-fuelled economic wildfire that has threatened banks, wiped out jobs and toppled governments across the continent.

France's newly-elected president Francois Hollande said during a news conference that the G-20 members had shown a willingness to help and trust the Eurozone.

"There was on the part of all and each of the G-20 participants an expression of trust for the European Union and the Eurozone. And in what concerns us, we, Europeans, we have set three points of common action, which will develop in the European summit at the end of the month: growth, financial stability and budget responsibility," said Hollande.

But the presidents and prime ministers gathered in this seaside resort seemed content to delay any major decisions for a while longer, releasing only a general statement that stopped short of committing any nations to greater spending unless conditions worsen and urging fiscal responsibility.

For months, governments and economists have weighed two different paths to ease the financial crisis: spending more to try to stimulate growth or slashing budgets.

European leaders headed home without announcing any significant agreements, and they aimed to meet again later this month in Brussels, with a goal of adopting a more detailed plan.

After the summit, Obama said the economic problems in Europe won't be solved by the G-20 or the United States, but by European nations. He said he was confident they could do that, but acknowledged the difficulty of getting all the separate legislatures to agree.

Germany must shoulder a large share of the contributions to bail out economically weaker European countries that overspent for years. In exchange, Germany has been insisting on steep cutbacks from aid recipients such as Greece.

Those cutbacks have led to dramatic economic hardship for voters in Greece and other countries. A growing number of European countries have been advocating spending and growth, not austerity, and the G-20 statement made limited mention of such a possibility.

"We are united in our resolve to promote growth and jobs," the document said. "Strong sustainable and balanced growth remains the top priority of the G20, as it leads to higher job creation and increases the welfare of people across the world."

The statement threw support specifically behind greater government spending in countries that can afford it, if conditions get significantly worse. Countries with "sufficient fiscal space stand ready to coordinate and implement discretionary fiscal actions to support domestic demand."

The plan also hinted at flexibility by asking that governments "take into account evolving economic conditions," which could open the way for more latitude in troubled countries such as Greece.

The cost of bailing out Spain's 1.1 (t) trillion euros (1.39 trillion US dollars) economy would likely outstrip current global ability, even after the International Monetary Fund announced late Monday that a round of contributions had increased its lending capacity to 456 (b) billion US dollars.

The countries making the biggest IMF contributions will be Japan, at 60 billion US dollars; Germany, at 54.7 billion US dollars; and China, at 43 billion US dollars. The United States is notably not contributing in the latest round.

1. Pan right of French President Francois Hollande walking to microphone

2. SOUNDBITE (French) Francois Hollande, President of France:

"There was on the part of all and each of the G-20 participants an expression of trust for the European Union and the Eurozone. And in what concerns us, we, Europeans, we have set three points of common action, which will develop in the European summit at the end of the month: growth, financial stability and budget responsibility."

3. Wide Hollande at podium

4. SOUNDBITE (French) Francois Hollande, President of France:

"I think we now have the mechanisms, they do exist. The European Financial Stability Facility is already in place, it could still be very helpful and now comes the European Stability Mechanism (ESM). Therefore, right now, since we have the mechanisms, we know the paths we must follow, we have the funds needed - I also just noted that the IMF is getting extra funding - well, let's use those resources at the right moment and the right way."

5. Wide of Hollande leaving conference