Dangerously dry conditions Sunday stoked raging wildfires across California that have destroyed at least one home, threatened several towns and left more than a dozen firefighters injured.

A wildfire burning in the Santa Barbara County portion of Los Padres National Forest left 11 firefighters injured, including one who suffered a broken leg. A pilot and co-pilot also received minor injuries when a helicopter crashed shortly after liftoff Sunday.

The aircraft went down outside the fire lines, and the cause was under investigation.

The crash spurred the grounding of all air traffic over the fire for the day, hindering the fire fight and keeping officials from charting the growth of the blaze.

The fire had consumed 6,500 acres of wilderness by Sunday morning as more than 1,500 firefighters struggled to contain the blaze, said Joel Vela, fire information officer with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. About 40 people from the Ventura County Fire Department were fighting the fire.

Vela said firefighters actually got some help from the weather on Sunday and had the blaze about 30 percent contained.

Twenty homes on the south side of the fire near Zaca Lake were no longer threatened, said Santa Barbara County Fire Capt. Eli Iskow. Two ranches and the historic Manzana Schoolhouse were still in the fire's path.

Investigators said the fire was ignited Wednesday by sparks from metal-grinding equipment being used on private property near Los Olivos.

Farther north, quick-moving flames burned through more than 34,000 acres in the Inyo National Forest, skirting the popular John Muir Wilderness north of Mount Whitney, the tallest peak in the lower 48 states, fire officials said.

The blaze was less than 10 percent contained Sunday, though a slight break in 100-degree temperatures and 60-mph winds gave firefighters a chance to dig in, Inyo National Forest spokesman John Louth said.

"The conditions have turned a bit in our favor," Louth said.

Still, an exceptionally dry winter has left the eastern Sierra especially vulnerable, officials said.

"When an ember lands in the sagebrush, there's a 100-percent chance of it catching," fire information officer Jim Wilkins said. "You put a spark on it, it will ignite into fire."

The Inyo fire forced more than 200 residents of Independence to temporarily flee Saturday as the wildfire burned on the mountainside above the town, where at least one home was destroyed.

About 863 firefighters were battling the flames near the John Muir Wilderness, one of the state's most heavily used backpacking areas. Shifting flames forced nine firefighters to take cover Saturday under their portable shelters, leaving three with minor injuries, Wilkins said.

An hourlong storm ignited the fire in the steep terrain Friday afternoon.

Walls of fire up to 40 feet high also were threatening major power transmission lines in the area feeding the eastern Sierra front and Greater Los Angeles, Wilkins said.

Highway 395, the major road along the eastern spine of the mountain range, was closed for a few hours Saturday but has been reopened.

Meanwhile, nearly 300 miles north, wildfires that have already torched nearly 15,000 acres continued to burn near Antelope Lake in the Plumas National Forest.

More than 800 firefighters were battling the blaze as authorities closed a 60-square-mile area around the lake to the public. The fire remained only 10 percent contained Sunday but had not destroyed or damaged any buildings, officials said.

Firefighters battling a blaze that has scorched about 850 acres near Canyon Country also were hoping for calmer winds and cooler temperatures.

About 400 firefighters were on fire lines Sunday, working with hand tools to keep the fire along a busy freeway in check. The fire was about 30 percent contained Sunday.

Residents from about 40 homes were temporarily forced to evacuate but allowed to return home Saturday night after no more structures were threatened. A red flag warning indicating an increased risk of wildfires remained in effect for the mountains and valleys of Los Angeles County through midnight today.

The flare-ups came less than a week after firefighters managed to fully contain the Lake Tahoe fire that consumed 3,100 acres south of the alpine lake and destroyed 254 homes.

— Staff writer Tom Kisken contributed to this report.