1.   Flames gutted the bedroom of a first floor flat in Saltersgill Avenue, Middlesbrough, at the weekend.

2.   Flames gutted that apartment and damaged two others, but no one was injured, said Bob Collis, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Fire Department.

3.   Its monuments of culture are pocked with shell holes or gutted by flames.

4.   Many houses were gutted by flames.

5.   One firefighter rushed from a burning building with a baby in his hands as people stumbled out into the smoky street, where flames had gutted parked cars.

6.   Surrounding buildings were gutted by flames.

7.   Three floors of a nearby Daewoo conglomerate high-rise were also gutted by flames and the premises were awash with water spurting from ruptured water mains, television reports showed.