Houses on 12 streets were ordered evacuated as the flames began bearing down on them at about 4 p.m., Fullerton Deputy Chief Julie Kunze said.

Firefighters from the Orange County Fire Authority were assisted by their counterparts from the Los Angeles County Fire Department, Brea, Anaheim, Garden Grove, Fullerton and Los Angeles city fire departments in battling the blaze.

Although winds were light, the blaze quickly threw lines of flame through brushy ridges and draws ringed by hundreds of homes.

Aerial footage captured by NewsChopper4 showed smoke billowing over homes in the area of Rosecrans Avenue and Beach Boulevard, next to what was once oil-drilling land.

The researchers relied on NASA’s satellite data and decades’ worth of fire records from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) and the U.S. Forest Service.Contrasting personalitiesStoked by dry desert air channeled through mountain passes and canyons, Santa Ana fires burn with more intensity, and they do their worst in a shorter period of time than summer fires.

Gretchen Stevens, who has been a Fullerton resident for 28 years, said she was terrified and thought about evacuating. The fire burning about 20 miles northeast of Sonora has consumed 102 acres and was 50 percent contained.

While the extreme heat was uncomfortable for many California residents, it presented more acute risks for firefighters wearing heavy gear and struggling to suppress at least five large wildfires or clusters of fires statewide.

California’s biggest wildfire, burning in Fresno County since July 31, has charred 152 square miles and brought new evacuations in the tiny communities of Dunlap and Crabtree.

“We have multiple units in the area and their No. 1 priority is structures and homes”.

Trails on the north rim of Yosemite Valley south of the Tioga Road and east of Yosemite Creek are closed, Gediman said.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

Tuesday’s fire got within 100 yards of some homes, burning cactus, pepper trees and brush in hilly terrain, according to Kunze.