Summertime Swelter Expected to Last Through the Weekend : Weather: Mercury reaches 102 in Woodland Hills, tying record. The threat of brush fires rises with the temperatures.

If you thought Thursday was hot, wait a few hours. Today is supposed to be hotter. And no relief is in sight.

It was 102 degrees in Woodland Hills on Thursday, tying the 1976 record, and forecasters said the “hot summertime pattern” will remain through the weekend as a high-pressure system hangs over Southern California.

“It is going to continue to be hot and dry,” said Dean Jones, a meteorologist with WeatherData, which provides forecasts to The Times. “It will be cooler by the beginning of next week but it will still be warm in the valleys.”

Plenty of people were already feeling the heat Thursday.

“People are just coming in all sweaty and saying, ‘Boy, it’s hot out there,’ ” said Dan Tanner, who works in an air-conditioned office at the Van Nuys Golf Course.

Tanner said the sun essentially drove away all his customers, leaving him with nothing to do but play cards.

“We get a lot of senior citizens here during the week, but when it gets this hot they just can’t come out, and business stops,” he said.

In Santa Clarita, about 130 firefighters descended upon the narrow ridges of Tapia Canyon to sharpen their skills against another sign of summer--wildfires. Working to contain a controlled burn, they cleared brush, established break lines, doused flames and overturned soil to prevent flare-ups later.

“This gives them good experience, from firefighters to captains,” said Inspector Wade Little of the Los Angeles County Fire Department, surveying the work from an overlooking ridge.

The individual fire crews practiced coordinating their efforts, and for many it was their first experience battling flames devouring a hillside rather than gutting a building.

“This is where all the mistakes are made, if they’re going to be made,” said Capt. Everardo Gonzalez of the U.S. Forest Service. “With live fire, it’s actually easier for them to see the fire behavior. It’s easier to teach them than from a chalkboard.”

The exercise was shut down around noon as temperatures rose and the wind picked up through Tapia Canyon--perfect conditions for a brush fire to get out of control.

There was an unplanned blaze, too. Churned by 20-m.p.h. winds, a 30-acre brush fire outside Lancaster burned for more than two hours before firefighters were able to contain it, said Cheryl Patterson, a county fire dispatcher.

Also Thursday, Los Angeles fire officials performed an annual summer ritual: They gave a news conference on the hazards of fireworks.

“We are entering brush fire season with the weather change and the brush conditions are back to the volatile state,” said Roger Gillis, a department spokesman, at the Sherman Oaks Burn Center. “Fireworks and brush obviously don’t mix.”

Gillis said all fireworks are illegal in Los Angeles.

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There were nearly 500 fireworks injuries in 1984 compared to 222 last year, according to Fire Department statistics.

At the Reseda Recreation Center, Holly Nickels, 20, and her two sons, Cody, 2, and Caleb, 6 months, fed the ducks in the man-made lake as a breeze helped cool the sun’s scorching heat.

“We decided to come to the park because the kids’ plastic pool was chewed up by the dog,” Nickels said as she carried Caleb and handed crushed crackers to Cody.

“We will probably go get a little pool this weekend,” she said, beads of perspiration starting to form on her nose.

In Woodland Hills, Varpkes Parsanian was getting ready to pour concrete at the Topanga Car Wash.

“We are used to the heat,” said Parsanian, 42, as he wiped the sweat from his face. “We drink lots of water because if you don’t, you could die out there.”

Jeannette Regalado is a Times staff writer and Douglas Alger is a correspondent.