LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A wildfire in the mountains north of Los Angeles has quadrupled in size since Friday, threatening communication transmitters and leading to a call on Saturday for more homes to be evacuated.
Authorities said about 7,000 acres have burned in the San Gabriel Mountains near the exclusive suburb of La Canada Flintridge.
Mandatory evacuation notices were issued for people in hundreds of homes, including 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 on Saturday, according to Los Angeles Country fire 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.
"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."
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 Fahrenheit (37 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.
(Reporting by Deena Beasley; Editing by Doina Chiacu and Vicki Allen)
