Southern California's first wildfires of the season burned homes and brush lands and forced thousands of people to evacuate on Tuesday, portending what could be an especially dangerous and costly summer.
A man was charged with negligently setting the largest blaze.
The fires burned through a total of more than 18,675 acres of grass and low-lying scrub parched by blistering spring heat that led the state to declare an earlier-than-usual start to the fire season on Monday. More than 30 structures were destroyed, including over a dozen homes.
"We've never been burned this bad before," said Dick Benjamin, 70, whose home in Riverside County was saved. "Fires are supposed to be in August and September, not May."
Nearly a dozen firefighters among the thousands on the job in Southern California were treated for injuries, including heat stroke and dehydration. At least two people fleeing a fire in the Los Padres National Forest were treated for injuries, including smoke inhalation and cuts and bruises.
The two biggest fires burned in Riverside County, an inland region east of Los Angeles. Fires also burned in San Diego County and up the coast in Santa Barbara County.
A drought that has left vegetation tinder dry and an infestation of tree-killing bark beetles have set the stage for what could be a severe fire season. Those conditions have been compounded by record-setting heat and thin budgets for fire departments.
As many as 600 people were evacuated as a 9,000-acre fire in Riverside County between Corona and Lake Elsinore approached their homes. Firefighters were trying to save about 250 homes as winds picked up. "It just had a flare-up," said Lynn Rowe, a spokeswoman for the Corona Fire Department.
An additional 2,000 to 3,000 people may have left voluntarily, Forestry Department engineer Rick Griggs said.
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Flames dwarf a fire truck as the Cerritos Fire burns near Corona, Calif., Tuesday, May 4, 2004. (AP)