Firefighters are gaining momentum as they battle several wildfires that have destroyed dozens of homes and forced the evacuation of thousands of residents in California.

Firefighters in Northern California have made progress on a stubborn blaze west of Sacramento, allowing some residents to return to their homes after they were evacuated.

More than 30 homes have been evacuated near Greater Manchester in northern England as firefighters battle a blaze which has been spreading for days in hot weather across the hills of Saddleworth Moor.

The fire brigade said "around 100 firefighters are tackling a large fire at a hotel of 12 floors in Knightsbridge", a luxury area of central London where Harrods department store is located.

Seven people -- five of them firefighters -- died in a fire that broke out late Saturday in an electronics factory in northern Taiwan, the local fire department said.

A woman died in a fire at a care home for people with learning disabilities in northeast London on Friday.

Flames and toxic smoke swept through the Sejong Hospital in the southern city of Miryang on Friday, injuring more than 150 people.

Around 130 others were hurt in the fire, which comes just weeks before thousands of athletes and foreign visitors are expected in the country for the Winter Olympics.

More than 70 firefighters tackled a blaze at London Zoo on Saturday and although no animals were immediately reported to have been injured, one aardvark was missing.

Firefighters trying to tame a blaze that has destroyed hundreds of homes in Southern California were facing bone-dry conditions and the return of powerful wind gusts on Wednesday.

Firefighters on Tuesday hoped to take further control of a massive California wildfire, the fifth largest in the state's history, as relentless wind gusts and bone-dry weather were expected to persist.

The fire, dubbed the Thomas Fire, raged in the foothills above and in the city of Ventura some 50 miles northwest of Los Angeles, fire officials said late on Tuesday, a day after it began.