LOS ANGELES (AP) — A respite in Santa Ana winds allowed firefighters to beat back flames that continued to whirl dangerously close to homes this morning along the city’s northwestern suburbs.

Fire crews spent Tuesday night unleashing loads of water on hot spots of the more than 20-square-mile blaze charring slopes above the San Fernando Valley communities of Porter Ranch and Granada Hills. Flames also pushed west into Ventura County and threatened homes in Simi Valley.

The fire, one of three major blazes that have burned 34 square miles of Southern California, was 20 percent contained late Tuesday night. Firefighters hoped for winds to remain calm through today.

“The potential for heavy winds is there,” Ventura County fire spokesman Tom Kruschke said. “We’ll have to wait and see what Mother Nature brings us.”

In a hectic start this week to the wildfire season, blazes have destroyed dozens of homes, forced thousands of people to evacuate and caused two deaths. One man died in the flames, and a motorist was killed in a crash as a fire neared a freeway.