Photos: Southland ablaze | The Cocos fire

Smoke billows above the Cal State San Marcos campus as water-dropping helicopters battle the Cocos fire.  (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

Hot spots continue to burn beside a charred vehicle along Crestwind Spur Road in San Marcos.  (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

A firefighting airplane drops fire retardant on burning brush along Crestwind Spur Road in San Marcos.  (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

The Cocos fire burns in the hills above Cal State San Marcos on Thursday.  (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

A charred sign sits beside a driveway in San Marcos, where the Cocos fire continues to burn.  (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

Fire consumes a hillside above La Moree Road in San Marcos as crews continue to battle the Cocos fire.  (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

A hillside blaze approaches a residence in San Marcos on Wednesday.   (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

An airplane makes a fire retardant drop on a burning hill near in a fire that burned nearly 2,000 acres in northern San Diego County in May 2014. A 14-year-old girl convicted of starting the fire was sentenced Wednesday to 400 hours of community service.

A heavy plume of smoke fills the sky as fire burns around San Marcos.   (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)

A firefighters carries a shovel on Coronado Hills Drive in San Marcos as crews continue to battle the Cocos fire.  (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

Ijiran Bambao evacuates his neighborhood in San Marcos as smoke billows above the hills Wednesday.  (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

A wildfire burns along the hillsides on Wednesday in San Marcos.  (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

San Diego County sheriff’s deputies monitor traffic in San Marcos as a wildfire burns along the hillsides on Wednesday. Multiple fires across Southern California damaged or destroyed more than a dozen homes.  (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

A wildfire burns in the hillsides Wednesday in San Marcos. Multiple fires across Southern California damaged or destroyed more than a dozen homes.  (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

A wildfire approaches homes Wednesday afternoon in San Marcos.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

A wildfire burns along the hillsides on Wednesday in San Marcos.   (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

Fire burns above the hills in San Marcos. Multiple brush fires are burning in the San Diego area.  (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

A man evacuates his horses as firefighters battle a large wildfire threatening homes in San Marcos Wednesday, May 14, 2014.   (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Flames surround a large hilltop home near Cal State San Marcos that caught fire.   (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

A wildfire approaches homes Wednesday afternoon in San Marcos.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

An airplane makes a fire retardant drop around a large Coronado Hills home in the San Marcos area.  (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Flames send up clouds of smoke around San Marcos.  (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)

Fire burns around San Marcos, one of several locations where blazes were being fought on a hot and windy day.   (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)

A wildfire burns in San Marcos as the moon rises in a smoky sky as seen from Carlsbad.  (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)