PALM SPRINGS, Calif. (AP) -- Wildfires that forced 1,000 people from homes and campgrounds raged out of control Wednesday in three Southern California counties as crews braced for another day of 100-degree temperatures.
About 17,000 acres of brush and forest have burned in Riverside, Los Angeles and San Diego counties. No homes were destroyed but dozens have been evacuated since the first fire erupted Sunday.
More than 80 homes were emptied Tuesday in the Pine Canyon area of the San Gabriel Mountains as a 4,500-acre fire burned in northern Los Angeles County. The fire in the Lake Hughes area of the Angeles National Forest was 35 percent contained after destroying an outbuilding and a motorhome.
``This is a very dangerous, very erratic fire that's still advancing,'' county fire Capt. Mark Whaling said.
More than 500 firefighters from seven agencies were on the line.
Two firefighters suffered heat-related injuries. In addition, county fire Capt. Daniel Elkins, 47, died Tuesday morning when his car crashed as he was returning home to Lancaster from the fire front.
Fire officials said the blaze appeared to have been man-caused but it was unclear whether it was deliberately set.
On Tuesday evening, about 30 cars packed with belongings were parked along a roadway near the fire scene. Behind the wheel were local residents who had fled the flames.
``I got my dog, my cat, my stereo, my clothes and my toothbrush,'' said Bruce Cobeen, 47.
In Riverside County, a blaze on the edge of the San Bernardino National Forest burned 3,698 acres.
Nearly 1,200 firefighters, backed by helicopters and planes, worked to contain the fire that began Sunday afternoon.
The blaze was 43 percent contained and was burning back on itself after moving east toward Palm Springs. The fire had threatened the mountain communities of Idyllwild, Pine Cove and Garner Valley, officials said.
Officials said the fire started Monday near a power-generating windmill farm in Banning Pass.
One firefighter suffered a broken leg, and three were treated for heat exhaustion.
A second fire in Riverside County erupted Tuesday about 2:13 p.m. and forced temporary evacuations in the Bundy Canyon area. The fire, located southwest of Lake Elsinore, burned about 350 acres and was 40 percent contained late Tuesday night.
About 120 firefighters fought the blaze in 110-degree heat Tuesday.
In eastern San Diego County, a pair of wildfires burned about 8,500 acres of brushy terrain Tuesday and prompted the voluntary evacuation of 100 homes in Ranchita, a tiny rural settlement.
More than 500 firefighters were battling the fires, which were 10 percent contained late Tuesday, CDF officials said.
The fires began about 12:30 p.m. and were sparked by bottle rockets, authorities said.
The fires started in the Mataguay Scout Reservation, a 750-acre camp owned by the Boy Scouts of America. About 200 Boy Scouts were evacuated.
In Alaska, residents of two Yukon River communities have been told to gather their belongings and be ready to leave if a wildfire burning five miles away moves closer to their homes. The advisory was issued for Eagle, population 126, and Eagle Village, population 59, two towns near Alaska's border with Canada.
The Deer Creek fire is part of the Eagle complex of fires, which has burned about 473,000 acres in northeastern Alaska.
The local airport has been designated a safety zone and the Red Cross has set up a shelter in Tok, about 165 miles away, according to Gil Knight, a fire information officer with the Alaska Interagency Coordination Center at Fort Wainwright near Fairbanks.
``We're trying to give it a two-hour notice _ plenty of time to move on,'' Knight said.
Fires continued to blaze Tuesday along the Taylor Highway, Eagle's only roadway out of town. Fire information officers said delays of up to eight hours could be expected.
The National Interagency Fire Center said active fires in Alaska involved nearly 2.5 million acres. There were about 200,000 acres of wildfires burning in the Lower 48 states, the agency said.
