SAN DIEGO -- Wildfires roared through dry California canyons Tuesday, prompting evacuation orders for more than 20,000 homes on the outskirts of San Diego and another 1,200 homes and businesses in Santa Barbara County, about 250 miles to the north. But as the threat eased late Tuesday, residents in San Diego began returning home.

No homes were reported damaged in either fire, but hundreds were considered threatened Tuesday before authorities said the San Diego-area blaze was dying down. Winds in Santa Barbara County calmed down significantly after sunset, and firefighters were beginning to surround that fire.

"At the point the fire is right now, we believe we have a pretty good handle on it," San Diego Fire Chief Javier Mainar said. "We hope to do some more work through the night and into tomorrow, but I think the largest part of the emergency has passed."

The flames that sparked in the fire-prone Rancho Bernardo area of San Diego quickly grew to 700 acres, driven by hot, dry Santa Ana winds that whipped through drought-stricken areas dotted by hilltop estates and pricey new housing tracts.

Black and gray smoke billowed over the area, filled with whirling ash and embers that created small spot fires. Flames crept within yards of some homes before firefighters doused them. At least two high schools and three elementary schools were evacuated.

Cameron Stout, filling his tank at a gas station, got a text from his wife shortly after noon saying she was packing up and leaving with the family's pictures, laptops and other valuables.

"This area's been through this before," he said. "I thought the recent rains would have prevented this from happening. But after a couple days of 100 degrees, it's reversed all that."

Katy Ghasemi, 14, was held for hours in her high school classroom before the school let the children go home. Students studied, ate lunch, did yoga and looked out the windows at the fire.

"There were a lot of flames. Some were right near the front gate," she said.

Another fire in southern San Diego County destroyed a mobile home before it was extinguished.

Meanwhile, in the Santa Barbara County community of Lompoc, 1,200 homes and businesses were under an evacuation order from a fire that quickly grew to more than 500 acres.

There were downed power lines and heavy brush in the area, said David Sadecki of the Santa Barbara County Fire Department.

Record high temperatures were predicted throughout much of California for the next two days. San Diego's high of 94 degrees Tuesday tied a 1979 record.

The combination of high heat, low relative humidity and Southern California's notoriously gusty Santa Ana winds prompted Los Angeles and neighboring cities to activate parking restrictions in certain areas to make sure emergency vehicles could get through if fires broke out in dry brush.

Months of drought have left much of the landscape ready to burn. Downtown Los Angeles has recorded just 6.08 inches of precipitation in the rain year, which runs from July 1 to June 30. That's less than half its annual average rainfall.

"Fire season last year never really ended in Southern California," said Daniel Berlant, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. His agency has responded to more than 1,350 fires since Jan. 1, compared with an average of 700 by this time of year.

A Section on 05/14/2014