Wildfires in California have doubled in size over the past 24 hours, forcing 10,000 residents to flee their homes.
The blaze in mountains above heavily populated areas of Los Angeles has now burned through more than 85,000 acres of tinder-dry forest and is now 'spreading in every direction', authorities warn.
An army of more than 2,500 firefighters has been deployed to tackle the blaze in the Angeles National Forest, known as the Station Fire, which remains only 5% contained.
The inferno is moving towards Mount Wilson, threatening communications antenna belonging to numerous television, radio stations, cellphone providers and numerous law-enforcement agencies.
'It's about a quarter-mile from Mount Wilson, which remains very much under threat,' a spokeswoman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection told reporters.
Loss of communications facilities at Mount Wilson could cripple fire and police stations across southern California, which use the mountaintop transmitters to communicate in the field.
'These are extremely crucial to the infrastructure and public safety protection, and the daily lives in the LA basin,' US Forest Service spokesman Mike Dietrich said.
The San Gabriel Valley east of Los Angeles has experienced record heat and low humidity recently, with temperatures soaring above 38C in the hottest locations.
A key factor in the fires' spread is that the areas most at risk are covered with vegetation that has not experienced fire for some four decades, making it even more susceptible to the blaze.
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger rushed back from Senator Edward Kennedy's funeral to survey the state's worst fire, warning residents to heed evacuation orders for the ‘very dangerous’ blaze.
Governor Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency in Los Angeles County last week in response to four fires in the area.
Earlier, two firefighters in died after their vehicle plummeted off the side of a road in the Los Angeles foothills.
The two were from Los Angeles County Fire services and had been working deep in the Angeles National Forest on Sunday afternoon when their vehicle careened down a slope.
