Evacuations grow as Los Angeles area fire rages

A pickup truck and a horse trailer are seen as smoke rises from the Station Fire in the La Canada Flintridge area of Los Angeles, California August 29, 2009.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A wildfire raged in the mountains north of Los Angeles on Saturday, sending up huge plumes of purple-gray smoke and prompting the evacuation of more than 3,000 homes on the northeastern edge of the city.

The fire, which had scorched nearly 20,000 acres (8,000 hectares) by late afternoon, also threatened key telecommunications facilities, including TV and radio transmission towers.

The blaze, which broke out on Wednesday afternoon in the San Gabriel Mountains near the exclusive suburb of La Canada Flintridge, was spreading toward homes from Pasadena to the San Fernando Valley by late on Saturday.

Residents in the northernmost reaches of Glendale and La Crescenta were told to get out of their homes on Saturday afternoon, as the mandatory evacuation zone reached the eastern limits of the city of Los Angeles.

Evacuation zones included a hilltop subdivision just across a canyon from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

The fire broke out on Wednesday afternoon and was just 5 percent contained as of early Saturday, according to Los Angeles County Fire Department Captain Mark Savage.

Firefighters were trying to keep the blaze from reaching Mount Wilson, which houses key television and radio transmitters, as well as towers that handle emergency services dispatches.

SERIOUS INJURY, CABINS BURNED

In the mountains, one person was badly burned when power lines fell on a ranger station in Big Tujunga Canyon. The victim, who was not identified, was airlifted out of the freshly evacuated canyon, home to 75 cabins and numerous campgrounds, local media reported.

Up to 34 of those cabins have been destroyed by fire in the canyon, according to Angeles National Forest spokeswoman Randi Jorgensen.

"This is a very dangerous situation that we are in right now," said U.S. Forest Service fire boss Mike Dietrich. "We had overnight growth up toward the La Canada area, which has prompted additional evacuations there."

Southern California Edison, the utility that supplies power to the region, said it had de-energized two major power lines because of the fire.

Edison spokesman Gil Alexander said the outages were not affecting the utility's ability to service customers.

The city of La Canada Flintridge said 164 houses near a country club were blacked out until it was safe for Edison crews to enter the area.

A National Weather Service spokesman said the agency's automated Los Angeles radio station went off the air at midday due to burned power lines.

Angeles National Forest spokesman Robert Brady said on Friday that it could take a week to contain the flames, which have been helped by hot, dry weather with temperatures higher than 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 Celsius).

"If there was one silver lining, there are no Santa Ana winds predicted at this point," Dietrich said.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday declared a state of emergency for Los Angeles and Monterey counties due to wildfires that had burned 13,000 acres (5,200 hectares).

Acting Governor John Garamendi on Saturday added northern California's Mariposa County to the emergency list after a wildfire there consumed about 3,400 acres (1,376 hectares), also threatening homes and closing roads.