Pioneertown, Calif. ? Temperatures hit 108 degrees and winds gusted up to 40 mph as firefighters battled a 36,000-acre wildfire that destroyed buildings and forced hundreds of people to flee, but spared historic structures in a town developed decades ago as a movie set for Westerns.

About 2,500 firefighters attacked flames devouring greasewood, Joshua trees, pinon pines and brush in hills and canyons of the high desert about 100 miles east of Los Angeles.

Eight air tankers and 13 helicopters attacked from above. Containment was just 16 percent, said Capt. Marc DeRosier of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

The fire had destroyed 30 homes and other buildings, DeRosier said. Firefighters used picks and shovels against hotspots in the Pioneertown area, which dates to the 1940s when Hollywood cowboys such as Roy Rogers and Russ “Lucky” Haden began establishing it as a filming site. There was no damage to the historic area.