Anaheim, Calif. ? Amid record-breaking heat, humidity as low as 4 percent and steady winds, a brush fire swept across the tinder-dry Anaheim Hills and Orange areas Sunday, charring more than 2,000 acres and prompting the evacuation of more than 500 homes.

The winds – amid what is shaping up as one of the driest years ever in Southern California – fed flames that destroyed one structure and damaged three more, including two homes.

The blaze was triggered before 8 a.m. by a fire that originated in a car that, for undetermined reasons, wound up in a roadside ditch. The fire continued burning, although less intensely, into the evening, with 10 percent containment achieved by 6:30 p.m.

More than 800 firefighters battled the flames, which at mid-afternoon darkened the skies over much of north Orange County with towering columns of smoke.

One of the firefighters’ adversaries was Sunday’s heat. Temperatures hit record highs for a March 11 at many spots, including a 97-degree reading around mid-afternoon in nearby Fullerton, making it the nation’s hot spot. Fullerton’s previous record high of 84 was set in 1959.

The blaze was sparked when a car with stolen plates was apparently moved off Highway 241 at the Windy Ridge toll plaza in an unincorporated area near Orange.

Authorities said it appeared the car was moved into thick brush and that the fire was then either deliberately set by whoever abandoned the vehicle or caught fire when the vehicle’s catalytic converter ignited. “I don’t know how they got down in there, but it was a well-planned spot in my opinion,” said Capt. Stephen Miller of the Orange County Fire Authority.

Arson investigators were dispatched to the scene, but authorities said they did not know if it was deliberately set. The blaze quickly scaled the ridge and destroyed dozens of acres near the toll road. By noon, as winds gusted and temperatures steadily rose, the fire was threatening enough for authorities to begin the mandatory evacuation of hundreds of hillside homes.

As sunset approached, authorities permitted some evacuees to return to their residences, but firefighters remained apprehensive about the danger.

“This is a very, very active fire,” Battalion Chief Ed Fleming of the Orange County Fire Authority said just before 5 p.m. With the fire still driven by strong winds, Fleming said, crews were concentrating their resources to protect threatened structures.