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The largest and most destructive blazes raged on the eastern edges of the Los Angeles Basin in a conflagration dubbed the “Station Fire.”

When the European Space Agency’s Envisat satellite passed over Southern California Saturday morning, August 29, it captured the dramatic image to the right, showing huge pyrocumulus clouds soaring high above the blazes centered in the San Gabriel Mountains.

Such clouds are created by the intense heat of large wildfires as well as that of volcanic eruptions and nuclear explosions.

Smoke was lifted within the cloud to high altitudes, where it blew thousands of miles downwind across the United States.

Reduced visibilities were reported around metropolitan Denver due to the air pollution, which also dimmed the sun and moon as far away as Dallas.

While the Station Fire looked impressive in Saturday’s satellite images, the firestorm had more than doubled in size by Monday morning. At least 6,600 homes were under mandatory evacuation orders and more than 2,500 firefighters were battling the flames that afternoon.

Higher humidities and favorable winds on Tuesday allowed firefighters to achieve a 25 percent containment of the firestorm.

Image: European Space Agency - Envisat