Fire From the Fashion District

From the Fashion District in downtown Los Angeles, the vista of the huge Station fire that started near La Cañada Flintridge looks like an atomic-bomb explosion.

By 4 p.m. on Monday, the fire had gobbled up 21 homes and 105,000 acres of brush and trees. Downtown Los Angeles has been shrouded in smoke every morning since the blaze started on Aug. 26, nearly a week ago. By Monday afternoon, that smoke had been whisked away to give a clear view of the fire scene and surrounding clouds.

With the inferno only 5 percent contained, it was feared the blaze wouldmarch up Mt.Wilson, where several radio and TV stations house their antennas, not to mention the historic Mt. Wilson Observatory, with its two giant telescopes. The observatory was opened in 1904 and is said to have contributed to developing the big-bang theory about the universe’s origin.