This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.

A record-setting heat wave sparked brush fires across Southern California that destroyed homes and forced thousands to evacuate from Santa Barbara to San Diego county.

The heat wave, coupled with moderate winds, helped fan nearly a dozen fires across the region, the most serious being in Alpine and Goleta.

Hundreds of residents fled the West Willows community near Alpine, with some saying they didn’t know whether their homes were still standing.

By 5 p.m., authorities said that they were getting the upper hand and that forward progress of the fire had been stopped.

Read the full story on LATimes.com.