Firefighters are pelted with ash © AFP/Getty Images David Mcnew

More than 500 mobile homes were gutted and 10,000 people were evacuated by a blaze that ripped through a Los Angeles suburb in what officials said was one of the worst fires to ravage the city in nearly half a century.

The fire, which erupted late Friday in the densely populated district of Sylmar, came as firefighters continued to battle a fire in the celebrity enclave of Montecito, 100 miles (160 kilometers) to the north.

Fires also broke out in the cities of Yorba Linda and Corona, southeast of Los Angeles, reportedly destroying at least 20 homes and forcing the closure of several important transport routes.

A car and homes © AFP/Getty Images David Mcnew

The Los Angeles fire -- fueled by seasonal winds of up to 80 miles (130 kilometers) per hour -- erupted late Friday and swept through some 6,500 acres (2,630 hectares), turning everything in its path to charred ruins, authorities said.

Ground zero of the firestorm was a mobile home park near Sylmar where more than 500 residences were reduced to a smoldering wasteland.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, blaming the spread of the fire on "absolutely atrocious" winds, said the blaze was one of the worst in the city's history.

"We have never lost in recent times anything close to this number (of homes)," Villaraigosa told reporters.

Most of the homes in the Oakridge mobile home park burn © AFP/Getty Images David Mcnew

Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said the fire, which was only 10 percent contained by 4:00 pm local time (0000 GMT), was the worst since a 1961 blaze in wealthy Bel Air that destroyed more than 480 homes.

"This is as bad a fire as I can remember since the 1961 fire," Yaroslavsky said. "The explosiveness of it, and the human devastation that is involved ...

"Five hundred families lost their home last night and this morning. And our hearts go out to them. We just can't weigh their loss heavily enough."

Los Angeles Police Department chief William Bratton described the devastation as "absolutely incredible."

"Words cannot describe it," Bratton told KCAL 9 television. "This is a very established, residential, middle-class community and the idea that 500 of these families are now without a home is incredible."

The Oakridge Mobile Home Park © AFP Robyn Beck

Around 1,100 firefighters, using helicopters, bulldozers and engines, were battling the fire, attempting to halt its advance as a state of emergency was declared across Los Angeles County.

Remarkably, only four people, including three firefighters, were confirmed injured but Villaraigosa warned the casualty toll increase.

Bratton said the fact that many vehicles appeared to have been caught in the fire was a cause for concern.

"One of the things people take when they flee is their vehicles, so we're concerned in the sense of, are there potentially people who did not get out," Bratton said.

The Sylmar fire was one of several burning across Southern California on Saturday, and authorities were anxiously tracking a large fire that had erupted near Yorba Linda, 40 miles (64 kilometers) southeast of Los Angeles, and neighboring Corona.

Arnold Schwarzenegger © AFP/Getty Images Sandy Huffaker

Vast plumes of smoke from the Yorba Linda blaze could be seen across the Los Angeles skyline and at least 20 homes had been damaged or destroyed.

Meanwhile, hundreds of firefighters were making progress against the fire which tore through the millionaire's playground of Montecito after erupting on Thursday. Some 111 homes had been gutted by the fire, which has burned around 1,800 acres (728 hectares) and was 40-percent contained.

Montecito is popular with the super-rich, and celebrities such as talk-show queen Oprah Winfrey and Hollywood actors Michael Douglas, Jeff Bridges and Rob Lowe all own property in the area.

California is frequently hit by scorching wildfires due to its dry climate, Santa Ana winds and recent housing booms which have seen housing spread rapidly into rural and densely forested areas.

The latest fires come just over a year after devastating wildfires that were among the worst in California history, that left eight people dead, gutted 2,000 homes, displaced 640,000 people and caused one billion dollars in damage.

In June and July this year, a series of about 2,000 fires raged across the state, scorching some 900,000 acres (364,217 hectares) of land.