California fire 'out of control'
Aerial footage of the wildfire raging north of Los Angeles
A wildfire in the mountains above Los Angeles is threatening 12,000 buildings and continuing to spread, officials in California say.
The fire has been fuelled by record temperatures over the past four days.
Evacuation orders cover about 10,000 homes and state governor Arnold Schwarzenegger described the fire as "still totally out of control".
About 2,000 firefighters are trying to contain the blaze, which has burnt more than 55 sq miles (142 sq km) of forest.
The fires rained ash on cars and homes as far away as central Los Angeles on Sunday.
Wildfires were burning out of control in all directions, officials said, but emergency crews were concentrating their efforts on the fast-moving northern edge of the inferno.
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Firefighters were also trying to stop the flames from spreading up Mount Wilson, in the Angeles National Forest north of Los Angeles, where many broadcast and communications antennas and a historic observatory are located.
On Sunday the fires were within two miles (3km) of the antennas, fire officials said.
Mr Schwarzenegger, who declared a state of emergency last week, urged people to obey evacuation orders, after three people were badly burned.
"There were people that did not listen and there were three people that got burned and got critically injured because they did not listen," he said.
Two of those injured had been trying to shelter from the fires in a backyard hot tub.
Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said the pair, in Big Tujunga Canyon, "completely underestimated the fire" and the hot tub provided "no protection whatsoever".
'Perfect storm'
About 1,000 homes have been evacuated and a handful in Big Tujunga Canyon have been destroyed by the flames.
Officials said the blaze was only 5% contained, with the area's steep, rugged hills making efforts to fight the fire more difficult.
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Mandatory evacuation orders covering about 10,000 homes and 2,500 other buildings are in place.
Parts of Altadena, Glendale, Pasadena, La Crescenta are also affected.
Evacuation centres have been set up at local schools.
With forecasts of continuing hot weather, there has been speculation that it could take firefighters a week to bring the blaze under control, says the BBC's David Willis in Los Angeles.
Wildfires are a feature of the Californian summer, but it is unusual for them to break so close to major population centres.
A number of other fires are also burning in southern and central California.
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