Three Fires Rage Near Santa Paula : Blazes: No buildings have been damaged but some luxury homes were threatened. The flames, fanned by Santa Ana winds, have burned more than 2,200 acres.

Three fires--at least two apparently set by arsonists--raged near this Ventura County city Tuesday, charring more than 2,200 brush-covered acres and threatening luxury homes as hot, dry Santa Ana winds persisted throughout Southern California.

About 750 firefighters, including units from the Los Angeles city and county fire departments were battling the Ventura County blazes. About 500 more were expected to join the effort by this morning, defending a line between the flames and the tiny community of Sulphur Mountain Springs near Santa Paula.

“If everything works right, we can pinch off the head of this fire tonight,” Ventura County Fire Capt. Robert Roper said Tuesday afternoon.

Firefighters were hoping to bring to a halt a rash of fires that have destroyed or damaged 28 homes and hundreds of acres of brush and foliage in the Southland since Monday.

As flames persisted in Ventura County, residents in Riverside, Diamond Bar and San Dimas were cleaning up the debris left behind by the blazes that hit those communities Monday.

The fire danger is expected to ease today when, according to weather forecasters, a high-pressure area over Utah is expected to move east, breaking the northeast winds that created a Santa Ana condition.

With the return of moist, marine air, cooler temperatures are expected.

Marty McKewon, a meteorologist for WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times, said the high temperatures and low humidity in evidence Tuesday should return to normal levels today. The temperature reached the mid-90s Tuesday in Los Angeles but should get only into the mid-80s today, while humidity, which plummeted to 7%, should rise to about 25% to 30%.

The extremely dry air is a critical factor in fire danger, as were winds that gusted up to 50 m.p.h. Monday. Gusts were down to about 40 m.p.h. in canyon areas on Tuesday, McKewon said.

Two of Tuesday’s fires braced Santa Paula, a town of 24,000 people 12 miles northeast of Ventura. Billowing clouds of smoke surrounded the community, but it was spared by both blazes.

“We know they were set fires,” said county Fire Chief Dick Perry. He said arson investigators had found the places where both fires were started, but he would not elaborate.

The three blazes caused only minor injuries to two firefighters and no structural damage, officials said Tuesday evening. But they were concerned about the newest of the fires, which broke out about 5 p.m. near Shiells Canyon southeast of Fillmore and quickly charred 500 acres as it raced westward.

The Shiells blaze briefly threatened several homes, but officials said weed-clearing by residents and diminishing winds prevented any damage.

“Good brush-clearing behind these homes will save them,” Los Angeles County Fire Capt. Gary Aalberts said earlier as he watched 25-foot flames pass by a well-cleared yard on Guiberson Road.

Tuesday night was expected to be a crucial period, especially for the so-called Mupu fire north of Santa Paula, officials said. Firefighters were counting on the winds to diminish, and they were using bulldozers to clear a crucial fire break between the Mupu fire and Sulphur Mountain Springs, a few miles to the north.

Firefighters were especially worried about two fingers of heavy brush, 500 yards wide and 2,000 yards long, north of the Mupu fire.

“If those fingers go up, and it heads up Sulphur Mountain Road, we’re in for a very long operation,” said Ventura County Fire Capt. Rod Sims. “That’s heavy brush . . . 45- to 50-year-old growth.”

Meanwhile, firefighters had all but contained the other blaze, which charred about 700 acres on South Mountain south of Santa Paula.

The Mupu fire was downwind and heading away from Santa Paula, while the Santa Clara River kept the South Mountain fire from reaching the city. On the north and south sides of town, residents sat in lawn chairs in their front yards, watching as smoke and occasional bursts of flame poured from the nearby canyons.

The South Mountain blaze, reported at 10:55 p.m. Monday, lit up the hills south of the city.

The blaze briefly threatened five homes on Lemon Grove Street, but fire units arrived in time to save them.

By 1 a.m., 300 acres were scorched. About then, a phone call awakened Greg Martinez in his isolated house on South Mountain Road.

“My girlfriend was calling,” he said. “She could see the fire from Santa Paula and she wondered if I was OK. I looked out the window and all I could see was flames.”

Eventually the flames surrounded the home, but stopped about 50 feet away and did no damage. Martinez credited the weed-clearing he did last May with saving the house.

“The fire department comes around and they’re real strict about that,” he said. “I didn’t want to do it. But hey, I’m glad I did.”

The Mupu blaze began about 8 a.m. Tuesday just north of the Santa Paula city limit and quickly blackened several hundred hilly acres west of California 150. The California Highway Patrol closed the highway, which connects Santa Paula and Ojai.

Southern California was not the only region of the state hit by fires. Late Tuesday, Oakland fire officials reported a brush fire in a southeast Oakland canyon was threatening expensive homes lining Skyline Boulevard and Campus Drive.

Meanwhile, fire officials pressed their search for the causes of suspicious fires that damaged 22 homes just south of the Santa Ana River in Riverside and destroyed three homes and damaged four others in Diamond Bar on Monday. Authorities were unable to confirm early reports that the Diamond Bar blaze was sparked by illegal fireworks.

A fire that destroyed three town houses in San Dimas on Monday was attributed to a faulty clothes dryer.

Harris reported from Los Angeles and Gorman reported from Ventura County. Times staff writer Santiago O’Donnell in Ventura County also contributed to this article.