FIRE NEARS HOMES; WINDS FAN AREA BLAZES.

Byline: Daily News Staff and Wire Services

Brush fires consumed hundreds of acres in the Angeles National Forest and in Palmdale, where homes were threatened by the flames Sunday evening, officials said.

The Palmdale blaze, whipped up by 15 mph winds, broke out about 4 p.m. at 5213 Shannon Valley Road, said Los Angeles County Fire Department spokesman Dennis Cross.

By 5:30 p.m., the fire had destroyed three outbuildings and threatened residences, officials said.

Firefighters were trying to contain a half-mile wall of fire with help from crews in water-dropping helicopters, but were being hampered by heavy brush fueling the flames, Cross said.

In the Angeles National Forest a brush fire was burning out of control near San Gabriel Canyon Road and East Fork Road, forest service officials said.

Some campers were evacuated from the area, but there were no immediate reports of injuries or homes threatened.

Ground crews from the Los Angeles County Fire Department and U.S. Forest Service were being assisted by three helicopter crews in battling the blaze, said Los Angeles County fire supervisor Gary Wise.

Throughout California and other Western states firefighters were battling flames that shifting winds pushed across thousands of acres of brush land Sunday.

One firefighter died north of Santa Barbara.

The body of Stephen Joseph Masto, 28, was found in steep terrain of the Los Padres National Forest on Saturday after he didn't return to camp with the rest of his colleagues. The cause of death wasn't immediately known.

``He was just a great guy,'' said Michael Kotowski, a battalion chief with the Santa Barbara City Fire Department. ``He had a lot of potential. This may have been his first wildfire.''

High, erratic winds caused the evacuation of two sparsely populated desert communities north of a 6,000-acre fire burning near the resort town of Lake Arrowhead, officials said.

Across the West, most fire officials expressed cautious hope of controlling the fires that had been raging in the heat for the last week. But they too were leery of shifting winds.

``The best news is that we're very slowly getting containment around most of the fires,'' aid Alleah Haley, a fire information officer for the California Department of Forestry in Butte County. ``The bad news is that we're expecting 20-30 mph winds. We're holding all our resources, hoping for the best and being prepared for the worst.''

In all, a series of blazes in the Northern California county charred 32,879 acres and burned 14 outbuildings, two vehicles and a boat. Two major fires that burned nearly 1,800 acres were surrounded, and firefighters gained the upper hand on three others.

A fire in the Stanislaus National Forest was contained after burning 4,028 acres, but officials there kept about 1,000 firefighters on the scene to fight hot spots.

The fire had destroyed four outbuildings and forced the closure of Highway 120 into Yosemite National Park. The highway was reopened Sunday.

In Nevada, crews finished mopping up the largest fire, at 45,000 acres, north of Reno, but a blaze 80 miles southwest of Ely was only 10 percent contained after burning 10,000 acres.

In Washington State, smaller fires near the Columbia River and Major Creek neared full control by Sunday afternoon. The Major Creek fire destroyed one home.

The best news came from Oregon, where light rain lessened the threat of several small lightning-caused fires. A 1,500-acre grass fire on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation in north-central Oregon was contained Saturday, with no injuries or structures threatened.

Several other smaller fires in the Southern California area closed some mountain highways but didn't cause any damage or injuries, officials said.

In Santa Barbara, meanwhile, those who worked at the city fire department with Masto struggled to come to terms with what seemed a baffling death.