139 Homes Destroyed as Fires Erupt Across the Southland : Disaster: At least 100 residences are razed in Santa Barbara. Total could reach 300. Glendale is also hard hit. Arson is suspected in 3 blazes.

More than 100 expensive homes were destroyed here and at least 37 people were injured as a swarm of fast-moving fires, at least three deliberately set, exploded across tinder-dry Southern California on Wednesday.

Flames fed by prolonged drought conditions and record-high temperatures hit communities from here to San Diego, destroying at least 139 homes, forcing evacuation of hundreds of residents, leaving several firefighters injured and closing two major freeways.

Authorities in Santa Barbara County said the blaze roared down a canyon in the Santa Ynez Mountains on gusting, erratic “Sundowner” winds Wednesday evening and could wind up consuming as many as 300 homes.

In other areas of the Southland, fires brought the realization of residents’ worst nightmares:

An arson fire raced through the affluent Glendale Hills, destroying 18 homes, damaging 16 others and causing $25 million in damage before it was contained at 8 p.m., officials said.

And late Wednesday, a controlled burn by the U.S. Forest Service erupted into an inferno in the Cleveland National Forest of Riverside County, destroying 15 homes in the Temescal Canyon area. The blaze also forced closure of Interstate 15 in El Cerrito, said California Division of Forestry spokeswoman Jeaneen Gardner.

A 3,500-acre wildfire destroyed at least six homes in the Sleepy Hollow area of Carbon Canyon in Chino Hills. A transient was arrested after allegedly admitting setting the fire, which burned in parts of Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino counties.

Record-shattering triple-digit temperatures combined with the fourth year of drought conditions set the stage for Wednesday’s infernos.

The mercury soared to 109 degrees at Los Angeles’ Civic Center Wednesday, shattering a record for the second straight day. The 112 degrees recorded Tuesday was the hottest day on record in the city’s history.

The Santa Barbara fire was started by an arsonist near California 154 and Painted Cave Road in the Park Highlands area, northeast of the city.

Flames quickly jumped tree-lined streets, skipped from roof to wood shake roof and swept down a canyon in the San Marcos Pass area to Cathedral Oaks Road, fire officials said.

County Fire Capt. Charlie Johnson said more than 100 structures, ranging from fancy Hope Ranch estates to simple apartments, had been destroyed as flames raced over more than 3,000 acres.

Area hospitals reported at least 37 people had been treated for smoke inhalation, chest pain and foreign objects in the eyes.

An incendiary device was found in the mountains where the fire began, and Santa Barbara County sheriff’s deputies detained a suspect shortly after 6 p.m., said Deputy Tim Gracey. He declined to release any other details.

A second fire merged with the canyon blaze, forcing evacuation of inmates at the Santa Barbara County Honor Farm, jumping U.S. 101 and forcing closure of the highway between Santa Barbara and Buellton.

Inmates at the Santa Barbara County Jail were evacuated to a nearby high school for several hours until the danger passed.

Sheriff’s deputies and National Guardsmen began evacuating residents in the fire area shortly after 7 p.m., but many people had left the area earlier without stopping to gather any possessions.

“This thing is the worst I’ve seen in 25 years,” Johnson said.

Janet Unterseher, 69, who was evacuated from the Rancho Santa Barbara trailer park, said:

“You could hear the explosion of the eucalyptus trees. The sky was a bloody red.”

Dr. George Scott ran around his house with a fire extinguisher, spraying the underbrush as fire consumed his back yard. He put his three dogs into his ancient Chrysler Imperial, but said he would not leave.

“I’ve been through three of these things,” he said. “But I’ve never seen winds this high.”

Ten minutes later, Scott drove out of the subdivision.

Steve Humphries, who lives on Via Los Santos Road, said he had seen many brush fires in the region, but none like this one.

“I’ve got all my fire equipment back at the house, but of course that’s on fire now too,” he said. “I never thought I’d get caught in one.”

In Glendale, firefighters were so overextended that residents were left to battle the blaze on their own during the first hours of the fire.

It came down to one man, one hose as residents scrambled to their roofs with garden hoses hoping to beat back the advancing flames.

Los Angeles City Fire Capt. Stephen Ruda commanded one contingent of firefighters who were among the first to arrive at the blaze along Foxkirk Road.

“Some homes we could save, some we had to abandon,” Ruda said. “The pine trees just exploded. Fireballs were raining into the canyon below us. The houses were helpless.”

Arson investigators in Glendale said a butane lighter, locked in the open position with a pen, was found in the brush.

It was the third arson this week in Los Angeles County caused by a butane lighter locked open the same way, said Glendale Battalion Chief Chris Gray.

“We suspect it’s the same person, because it’s been the same cause in three of the fires,” Gray said.

Authorities said a witness saw someone who might have set the fire and took a license plate number. But no arrests have been made.

“I haven’t seen a fire like this in Glendale for 12 years,” said Mayor Larry Zarian. He said fire officials reported that many of the homes that burned had highly flammable shake roofs.

About 1,000 students and teachers were evacuated from Glendale Community College in the middle of classes Wednesday as flames moved within yards of the campus, said spokeswoman Mary Shelburne.

In Carbon Canyon, the brush fire apparently started by a transient in the tinder-dry grass blackened more than 3,500 acres and was still uncontained Wednesday evening as nearly 400 firefighters battled in near-record heat to save hundreds of threatened homes.

The fire started about 11 a.m. in Orange County near Carbon Canyon Regional Park and quickly spread northeast into the foothills of San Bernardino County where 15 homes were damaged--six of them destroyed-- and hundreds of residents evacuated from the community of Sleepy Hollow and other areas in Chino Hills.

About 200 homes remained threatened Wednesday evening in the Chino Hills area.

Authorities said they were no longer worried about the fire damaging homes in Orange County or further destruction in Sleepy Hollow.

None of the residents were injured, but six firefighters were treated for smoke inhalation and minor burns as they battled fatigue and heat exhaustion while working in temperatures estimated at 105 degrees with wind gusts of about 15 miles per hour.

“It is a very serious fire,” said Orange County fire spokeswoman Kathleen Cha. “We have the most extreme burning conditions. It’s hot, it’s dry and we have winds.”

Pat Morgan, who fled her home in Sleepy Hollow as flames threatened to ignite the structure, said at a police blockade: “I felt like I was in a movie (and) they were filmming a disaster. The cinders are blowing in your eyes, the winds are unbelievable, you’re listening to them tell you to evacuate. I bet (the temperature) jumped 20 degrees. It felt like I was in a furnace.”

Police arrested Peter Diaz Reyes, a 29-year-old transient, on suspicion of felony arson shortly after the fire was started. He was identified by a resident who told police that he was running from the scene.

Orange County Fire Capt. Hank Raymond said Reyes admitted starting the fire, but he told police the grass ignited by accident while he was trying to cook. Raymond said the suspect told authorities he started the fire in two places because he tried to cook in a second location after the first fire started.

Reyes was being held in Orange County Jail for investigation of arson.

In Riverside County, 17 firefighters were burned--one critically--as they battled a blaze that seared an undeveloped parcel of land southwest of Hemet. Three more Riverside County firefighters suffered heat exhaustion fighting a separate fire in Moreno Valley.

Three other Riverside County firefighters suffered heat exhaustion while trying to gain control of a fire that destroyed three homes and several shacks and sheds in Moreno Valley.

The blaze in Temescal Canyon started as a U.S. Forest Service control burn in the Cleveland National Forest on June 19. It jumped control lines three times, the latest on Wednesday night when strong winds pushed the fire toward homes, authorities said.

In San Diego County, a blaze burned 1,000 acres in the Dehesa area, and a 300-acre fire burned out of control on the Rincon Indian Reservation. Fire officials say they hoped to contain the Rincon blaze before this morning.

Firefighters also battled a 530-acre blaze on the outskirts of Ojai in Ventura County. Officials estimate they will have the fire under control today.

Reed reported from Santa Barbara. Feldman reported from Glendale. Also contributing were Times staff writers Edward J. Boyer, Stephen Braun, Nieson Himmel, John H. Lee, Darrell Dawsey and Amy Pyle in Los Angeles; Lori Grange, Doug Smith and Phil Sneiderman in Glendale; John Hurst and Joanna M. Miller in Santa Barbara, and Jim Carlton and Matt Lait in Orange County.