AGUA DULCE, VALLEY AREAS HIT HARD BY BLAZES EVACUATIONS ORDERED IN CANYONS.

Byline: JERRY BERRIOS and BRENT HOPKINS

Staff Writers

AGUA DULCE -- At least a dozen structures in the Santa Clarita Valley area were destroyed and thousands of others were threatened Sunday as wind-whipped wildfires swept across Agua Dulce, Canyon Country and into neighboring Ventura County.

Three people were burned, one seriously, as residents fled ahead of the fast-moving flames. Wicked Santa Ana winds blew embers into tinder-dry brush that hadn't burned for decades, prompting officials to issue ever-expanding evacuation orders.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency throughout all seven Southern California counties late Sunday night, enabling greater deployment of state resources to the fire-afflicted areas.

"The smoke is all over the Santa Clarita Valley," said John Hicks, an off-duty firefighter who lives 10 miles from the Canyon Country blaze. "It's pretty ominous, like a repeat of the '93 fires. We have more to come if things don't calm down with this wind.

"We can throw all the water at it we want, but we need that wind to go away."

Two homes and two outbuildings were destroyed in Agua Dulce, an equestrian community northeast of Santa Clarita. The fire was reported about 1 p.m. and exploded to 500 acres within the first hour, blackening 10,000 acres by nightfall.

With sustained winds of 30 mph and gusts to 60 mph, blowing embers touched off a fire in a neighborhood near Canyon High School where as many as 10 homes were engulfed in flames.

Nearly 3,800 homes were threatened as flames gobbled up dry brush along a ridgeline from the Agua Dulce fire, sending clouds of thick smoke billowing into the sky.

Some residents could be seen hosing down their roofs with garden hoses, while others complied with evacuation orders, creating a traffic jam of cars trying to leave neighborhoods.

Mandatory evacuations were ordered in Vasquez, Bouquet and parts of San Francisquito, White's and Soledad canyons, officials said.

Evacuation centers were set up at Golden Valley and Saugus high schools.

And authorities were working on evacuation plans for the Ventura County towns of Piru and Fillmore, which were in the path of the fire. At least one home in the Santa Rosa Valley had been damaged by one of several fires burning in that area.

"It's very, very dynamic," said Los Angeles County Fire Capt. Henry Rodriguez. "Today has been very, very devastating for us.

"We have had a lot of acreage burn, a lot of firefighters working. It's been keeping us very busy."

As fire crews mounted their initial attack in Aqua Dulce, water-dropping Super Scoopers were diverted from the Malibu fire 60 miles away. However, high winds in northern Los Angeles County grounded the fixed-wing aircraft, and officials turned to the heli-tankers to continue fighting the blaze into the night.

Geoff Giammarco was at a restaurant when he heard about the fires and immediately drove home to his rental home in Sierra Bonita Ranch.

"The Fire Department was already there," he said. "They turned me around."

He said neighbors had a fire plan in place and had already rescued his dog, Darla, a pug-dachshund mix.

"I have no idea if my house is there or not," he said. "The only thing I really wanted were photos. The thing you can't replace."

jerry.berrios(at)dailynews.com

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CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) A firefighter in Canyon Country pulls a hose past one of several homes that were destroyed on Carvel Drive near Camp Plenty on Sunday night. Winds gusting up to 60 mph scattered burning embers across the neighborhood near Canyon High School, starting fires that engulfed as many as 10 houses.

(2) A firefighter battles the wind and flames at one of several homes that were destroyed on Carvel Drive in Canyon Country.

David Crane/Staff Photographer

(3) Residents load their belongings into cars to evacuate as flames approach their neighborhood in Canyon Country.

Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer