Police in the city of Azusa and parts of Duarte ordered several hundred homes evacuated, while others were under voluntary evacuations, The Associated Press reported.
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A forest fire has erupted in the San Gabriel Mountains northeast of Los Angeles amid withering heat.
It was so hot, a woman in her fifties died from heat exposure while going for a walk in the middle of the city, Nanos said.
Evacuees living in Torrance County south of La Para also will be able to return home starting at 8 a.m. Tuesday.
Firefighters have made steady progress in controlling the so-called Sherpa Fire, a seven-day old blaze northwest of Santa Barbara, California, that has burned almost 3237 hectares in an area of ranches and campgrounds.
The fire eventually shifted away from residential areas late on Monday but officials said they remain on alert as the flames could quickly change direction depending on the wind.
Fire officials say 270 structures remain threatened.
Firefighters hoped to make gains against Southern California wildfires as an intense heat wave eased slightly Tuesday.
Firefighters on the scene are anxious about low visibility, the possibility of winds picking up, and a series of power lines that are in the hills where those two fires could merge.
In Arizona, a fire has blackened almost 42 square miles on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation.
Other blazes burned wide swaths across Arizona and New Mexico, where firefighters also faced blistering temperatures Monday. More than 750 homes have been evacuated, the LA County Fire Department says.
Temperatures climbed to record levels from Los Angeles County eastward into New Mexico, with records toppling in Las Vegas, Bettles, California, Death Valley and other locations.
More than 600 firefighters and water-dropping helicopters worked to contain two major brush fires that erupted east of Los Angeles on Monday, scorching more than 2 100ha and forcing about 850 families to flee their homes.
That fire, about 50 miles southeast of San Diego, had charred more than 1,900 acres and was just 5 per cent contained yesterday, California fire officials reported. A Red Flag Warning in Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties remains in effect due to high fire danger today.
Meanwhile, another wildfire surged to almost three square miles wide in triple-digit temperatures near Potrero, California, a desert town by the Mexican border.
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Farther north, a small blaze ignited in a popular recreation area, and Santa Fe National Forest officials considered some youth camps and campgrounds threatened. Around 17,000 acres of land has also been burnt in a fire in New Mexico.
