Southland Fires Claim 59,000 Acres : Blazes: Worst destruction is in San Bernardino National Forest, where 50 structures are damaged.

Wind-whipped wildfires raged through rugged back country in Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Riverside counties Monday, continuing to spread after charring more than 59,000 acres of chaparral and timber.

The largest of the five blazes was in the San Bernardino National Forest near Lake Arrowhead, where flames had scorched at least 50,000 acres and damaged at least 50 structures, including several houses. Five people were arrested on suspicion of looting homes abandoned because of the advancing flames.

There were two major blazes in Los Angeles County--one that had blackened at least 1,500 acres of brush and trees in the Angeles National Forest north of Glendora, and another that swept rapidly across 3,000 acres of open land in the Sierra Pelona Hills northeast of Acton. The Acton blaze was completely contained by Monday night.

Two more fires continued to burn along California 243 in the San Jacinto Mountains between Banning and Lake Hemet. One had swept across 3,000 acres of woods and brush near Mountain Center. The other, near Poppet Flats, was largely contained, but not before it had consumed about 1,500 acres of brush and destroyed six buildings, including two homes.

Unseasonably gusty winds, dry brush and dangerously low humidity were hampering the efforts of firefighters to quench Southern California’s blazes. Several of the smaller fires were expected to be under control by this morning, but the largest fire near Lake Arrowhead continued to burn out of control Monday night.

Conditions were better in Northern California and Nevada, where cooler temperatures and rising humidity were helping fire crews gain the upper hand on several blazes that have burned for more than a week.

Karen Terrell, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Forestry, said most of the fires in the northern half of the state were under control by noon Monday. The largest blaze in the West--a 45,000-acre fire 45 miles northwest of Reno--was brought under control.

Crews from Northern California and Reno were being reassigned to fire lines in the Southland.

At least 700 personnel were deployed against the so-called Willows Fire, centered in the San Bernardino Mountains near Lake Arrowhead. Air tankers were dropping water and fire retardants on the blaze, which was moving forward on two fronts--northeast into the sparsely settled High Desert above Apple Valley and the Lucerne Valley, and south, toward the more populous mountaintop resort communities along California 18.

“The winds are really beginning to act up,” Delores Chacon, a spokeswoman for the Department of Forestry said late Monday afternoon. “People in Running Springs are calling in, saying the fire is starting to move toward them.”

California 18 between Crestline and Arrowbear Lake was closed to all but local residents and emergency vehicles Monday afternoon, as some of the residents began voluntary evacuations.

Officials ordered some evacuations along the southern reaches of the Lucerne Valley, and some people left their homes voluntarily on the south side of Apple Valley. Apple Valley High School was designated as an evacuation center, and a number of people spent the night there.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman visited the Willows Fire command center near Lake Arrowhead on Monday afternoon, and officials said he would relay his findings to President Clinton.

The blaze apparently started Saturday afternoon, when winds fanned an illegal campfire, fire officials said. U.S. Forest Service personnel spotted smoke and tried to snuff the fire, but they ran out of water and had to retreat from the advancing flames.

More than 4,000 campers and local residents were evacuated along the East Fork of the San Gabriel River, north of Glendora, as the Angeles National Forest fire continued to expand.

About 300 firefighters were battling that blaze, but air tankers were not available.

“We’re very seriously hurting with a lack of resources,” said Linda Steinberg, a spokeswoman for the Forest Service. “The San Bernardino Mountains fire is taking about everything. They take precedence over us.”

The 450 firefighters deployed against the fire near Acton appeared to be winning their battle Monday afternoon. Three sheds and a house were damaged by the fire, but fire officials said the blaze probably would be knocked down before dawn today.

Arson was blamed for both fires along California 243 in Riverside County. Firefighters were having a tough time with the Mountain Center fire because of the steep terrain, and there was no prediction of containment.

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Associated Press contributed to this story.