LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A spring heat wave boosted temperatures to record-breaking levels Sunday as authorities across Southern California braced for the start of the fire season.
Sixteen areas in Southern California experienced new record highs, according to Bill Hoffer of the National Weather Service. The number of new records was ``the highest in my 20 years with the agency,'' Hoffer said.
Downtown Los Angeles hit 97 degrees, shattering the May 2 mark of 92 degrees set in 1947, according to the National Weather Service. Long Beach tied its 1940 record of 90 degrees.
Elsewhere, temperatures rose to 98 degrees in Ontario and 93 degrees in Anaheim, with coastal areas experiencing cooler climate in the 80s and desert area highs reaching into the 100s.
In Los Angeles, more than 200 personnel from the city fire department and 23 ambulances were called to Lincoln Park east of downtown, where dozens of people attending a Cinco de Mayo celebration suffered heat-related ailments including dizziness and dehydration.
Eight attendees were taken to local hospitals for treatment, said fire department spokesman Brian Humphrey.
At the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in Indio, several people were transported to hospitals as temperatures soared into the 100s, said Capt. Mike Smith of Riverside County Fire Department.
``It's boiling hot,'' said Derek Lady, 32, who attended the music festival. ``Everyone's ducking for shade, looking for tents. It's a dry heat, not a humid heat, but it's still unbearable.''
As the mercury rose, firefighters preparing for the beginning of the fire season Monday faced several brush fires throughout Southern California.
A wildfire ignited on the Camp Pendleton Marine base in San Diego, prompting voluntary evacuations of more than a dozen homes along a nearby canyon and charring more than 1,000 acres of dry brush by late afternoon Sunday. No structures were immediately threatened. Two fires in Riverside County burned more than 500 acres and also prompted voluntary evacuations of several dozen homes.
The fire season was called three weeks early amid concerns about lower rainfall and bark beetles infestation, which have left huge sections of the forest ripe for another massive blaze after last fall's wildfires.
``We're expecting it to be a busy fire season,'' said Capt. John Harvey of the Riverside County Fire Department. ``We're not taking this season lightly in any way, shape or form.''
