There wasn't much: a decorative stone lion, a dinner plate, and a pile of cracked ceramic doll heads that had belonged to her late mother.

"This is hard to grasp," she said.

Her daughter, Denise Harvey, 44, was holding back tears.

"It's unbelievable," Harvey said. "It's devastating."

Westman, 69, was one of the residents of 38 mobile homes that were reduced to twisted metal and cinders by a wildfire that on Monday raced through the Sky Terrace Mobile Home Park on the edge of the San Fernando Valley just outside the city limits.

Fierce desert winds that had whipped the canyon were calm Wednesday.

Firefighters continued to try to contain two big fires that scorched more than 18,000 acres and were relieved that calmer air was giving them a chance to get ahead of the fires.

At least two deaths were attributed to the fires.

Residents of most neighborhoods that had been forced to evacuate were allowed to return to their homes on Wednesday.

Westman was among the first back into her neighborhood off Lopez Canyon Road, which rests on high ground and affords residents of humble mobile homes a dramatic vista of the city.

Westman had owned and lived in the 39-year-old double-wide home since 1983. She said she had no insurance. And within the past year, she had poured thousands of dollars into fixing it up: a new roof, a new heater, and just a month ago, a 42-inch television set and satellite antenna.

Westman was forced to evacuate before dawn Sunday. The Marek Fire veered, and when she went to bed at her daughter's home that night, she was hopeful her home would survive. But the winds shifted overnight, and fire roared through the mobile home park Monday.

Westman stopped by the post office to tell them to forward her mail to her daughter's home in nearby Sylmar.

"I just can't believe this has happened," Harvey said. "Everyone's life is going to change now in our family."

The fire that swept through Westman's neighborhood consumed 4,824 acres and was 92% contained. Helicopters and air tankers continued to battle flames of a second fire in steep terrain above the San Fernando Valley. The Sesnon Fire consumed 13,285 acres and was 50% contained, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. At least 15 homes were destroyed.

At Shepherd of the Hills Church, 31 people spent Tuesday night on cots and ate hot meals provided by the American Red Cross.

Grace Siodora, 47, an adult-education teacher with the Los Angeles city school system, was there with her three children and small dog. Still, she said, the experience had been a positive one, teaching her children how fickle life can be. "Nature has a way of making us all equal," she said.

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