Conditions in Southland Are Ripe for an Inferno : Safety: Fire officials in Southland say drought and weather patterns make this the most dangerous time of the year. Santa Ana winds could fan a disaster.

A firestorm in Southern California, similar to the one that tore through the East Bay killing 14 people and destroying at least 400 structures, is only a spark away, local fire officials warned Monday.

“I’d say the potential for something like that happening here is very high,” said Tom Hutchison, acting fire staff officer for the U.S. Forest Service in the Angeles National Forest.

“Until we get rain, we have the potential for the same thing you’re seeing in Oakland. Next week could be our turn,” said Capt. Dan Young of the Orange County Fire Department.

The drought has left Southern California’s state and national forests bone-dry and water supplies low, while local weather conditions--high temperatures and low humidity--are conducive to a blaze. In addition, local fire departments are pinched by recent budget cuts and the deployment of their crews to help combat fires elsewhere in the state. Enter the Santa Ana winds, which are common this time of the year, and you have the perfect recipe for a major disaster, fire officials said.

“If we experience the Santa Ana winds, it’s just a matter of a spark in the right place,” said Doug Allen, fire prevention officer for the state Department of Forestry.

In fact, recent brush fires in Glendale, Griffith Park and Pasadena could have caused more damage had strong winds been present to spread the flames and scatter embers, fire officials said.

In recent weeks, as temperatures soared past the 100-degree mark, “all the conditions were there except for the wind,” said Darrell Higuchi, assistant fire chief for Los Angeles County. “I don’t want to scare people but, yes, it can happen here,” he said referring to the blaze in the hills above Oakland and Berkeley.

Although weather forecasters predict a storm will pass through the area in the next few days, bringing a slight chance of showers, they also predict that high temperatures and low humidity will return for the next few weeks.

“Looking back historically, we are in the worst part of the fire season,” Hutchison said. “The big ones usually occur between Oct. 1 and Thanksgiving.”

The potential for a residential fire in San Diego County is also high, said county Fire Department Deputy Chief Gary Easton. “We don’t have the large trees like Oakland, but we have the potential weather conditions,” Easton said.

In Ventura County, forecasts for erratic fall weather could keep firefighters on alert until late this year in what a department spokeswoman described as “one of the most treacherous” fire seasons on record.

Capt. Young said Laguna Beach and Yorba Linda are among the cities in Orange County that have lots of dry brush and trees. The biggest threat in Orange County now is to homes with overgrown brush, Young said. “Santa Ana winds blow out of the northeast. . . . If you have trees northeast of power lines, cut them.”

“We’ve been relatively fortunate because of the relatively cool summer,” said Brea Fire Department Battalion Chief Joel Shennum. But the weather may get hotter, he said, which would signal an increased fire danger.

In the midst of these dangerous conditions, firefighting forces have been significantly reduced because of budget cuts and the deployment of local crews to help fight the fires in Oakland and the Los Padres National Forest.

The U.S. Forest Service has been hit particularly hard by the budget ax. As of Oct. 1, the staffs on engine companies throughout Southern California’s four national forests have been reduced from five to four firefighters, and nearly all stations are closed two days a week, Hutchison said.

If a fire breaks out near a station that is closed, forest service officials will try to extinguish the fire with crews from the nearest station, he said.

In the Angeles National Forest--where “the fire danger fluctuates from very high to extreme”--six of 24 fire stations have been closed permanently because of budget cuts, he said.

The highest danger for a residential fire is in the foothill areas of the national forest, including the Altadena and Pasadena areas, where thousands of homes, businesses, camps and churches have been built adjacent to wooded areas.

A national network of cooperating agencies and fire departments is ready to shift resources to large fires in the region. Crews of prison inmates, state Department of Forestry firefighters and non-firefighting Forest Service personnel can be brought in to fight fires in Southern California, fire officials said.

Still, fire officials said they are worried that smaller crews will slow down reaction time. “We are in a very critical time,” Hutchison said.

The Los Angeles Fire Department is considering the possibility of creating a pilot volunteer reserve program similar to one in place in the Los Angeles Police Department.

Participants would augment certain Fire Department programs but would not replace regularly assigned personnel. A firefighters union representative said the organization would oppose any effort to use reservists to fight fires.

Hutchison said the Forest Service also has had to travel farther to replenish firefighting water supplies because wells and streams have dried up during the drought, which further slows response time.

For example, a week ago firefighters had to travel eight miles for water to douse a brush fire in the Kentucky Springs Canyon area of Angeles National Forest. Normally, firefighters travel no farther than four or five miles for water, Hutchison said.

Staff writers Louis Sahagun, Lisa Castiglione and Eric Young and correspondent Patrick McCartney contributed to this article.