A wildfire raging in Southern California is reaching dangerously close to cell phone and broadcast towers used for commercial and emergency services on top of Mount Wilson.

Hundreds of firefighters are battling to hold back the Station Fire, which has been spreading throughout the San Gabriel Mountains in Northern Los Angeles County.

The fire started August 26 and has burned through more than 20,000 acres. As of Monday morning, the fire was only 5 percent contained and officials said it may not be fully contained for another eight days, the Reuters news agency reported.

"Firefighters are preparing to set more back fires below the broadcast towers, but otherwise things are calm on the mountain for the present," said Mount Wilson Observatory director Harold McAlister in his blog early Monday. "I remain optimistic for now."

The cellular communications towers, as well as TV and radio broadcast towers, provide service to the Los Angeles area. Mount Wilson rises to an altitude of 5,715 feet and, taken together, the various towers on it are called the Communications Facilities.

The observatory itself has carried out important astronomy projects for decades including some that helped support the "Big Bang" theory.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger ordered a state of emergency on Friday for both the Los Angeles and Monterey Counties because of the spreading fires.

Several thousand homes have been threatened by the fires and two firefighters lost their lives over the weekend. Several areas have been the subject of mandatory evacuations and evacuation shelters have been set up.

SOURCE

as long as we have an earthquake and a few mudslides...then the California trifaccia of death will be complete.

There's a hurricane aimed at LA too but it won't make it to the border.

don't cry for me argentina, everyone who got their place melted down in the laguna fire ended up with a nice new spread after insurance. their 60+ year old asbestos laden tinderboxes on the hill were rebuilt new as cement and steel excess out a magazine- my 'friend' was one of them, they even laughed about it afterward, took handouts and gift certs from the city though money wasn't exactly a problem and they got all their stuff out anyway. shameless fucks- that wife of his was behind it no doubt- the kind that's always too drunk to fuck.

i'm 45 miles south of the festivities and got a whiff of the ash and smoke at lunch which i immediately recognized to mean no run around the lake after dinner. its typical l.a. always pulling this fire melodrama making everyone else suffer.

Max Hardcore's house is right on the fire zone border.

I'm 8-10 miles away. I really haven't payed any attention to the news coverage, the rotten scent and smoke tells me its close. I wonder how many bodies have burned, maybe like 2 days ago in the middle of the night the stench got reaally bad. I'll wait to get in panic mode when I see a neighbor do it first. I didn't used to be like this. I'd have my shit packed by now had this been 3 years ago.

Will California have to buy carbon offsets for this? Are they warming the earth with all their fires or protecting us by putting pollutants in the air to shield us from the sun?

...Ash falling in my coffee...FUCK

It looks like a fucking volcano erupting, or a bomb went off. It sucks to be out there now.

Any of you LA dudes need me to send a CARE package with marshmallows & sticks?

The Armenians are leaving Glendale like the Ottomans are coming...

What's burning is growth that was over 60 years old. Has to happen ever so often to start anew. The San Diego fire in 2003 was all 50 year plus growth and at the end of the day over 900,000 acres had burned. You wouldn't know it today for the most part. When the fire jumped I-15 it was within a quarter mile of me. Scary shit.

Nugent...
What Freeway are those shots from??

Electro is your house in the firing range?