By Joe Brock ALTADENA, California (Reuters) -In the close-knit Los Angeles suburb of Altadena, where rows of neat bungalows once nestled in the shadow of the San Gabriel Mountains, smoldering ruins and the skeletal frames of burnt-out cars now lie.

The Sunset Fire started as a brush fire in Los Angeles' Hollywood Hills amid windstorm conditions. By mid-Thursday morning, the fire was stopped, an official said.