Firefighters on Wednesday fought to maintain the upper hand on a huge and rapidly moving wildfire that swept through rugged mountains north of Los Angeles and resulted in more than 50,000 people being put under evacuation orders or warnings.
The Hughes Fire broke out late on Wednesday morning and in less than a day had charred nearly 41km2 of trees and brush near Lake Castaic, a popular recreation area about 64km from the devastating Eaton and Palisades fires that are burning for a third week.
Though the region was under a red flag warning for critical fire risk, winds were not as fast as they had been when those fires broke out, allowing for firefighting aircraft to dump fire retardant on the latest blaze. By Wednesday night, about 14 percent of the Hughes Fire had been contained.
Photo: Reuters
“The situation that we’re in today is very different from the situation we were in 16 days ago,” Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said.
Red flag warnings were extended through 10am today in Los Angeles and Ventura counties. Officials remained concerned that the Palisades and Eaton fires could break their containment lines as firefighters continue watching for hot spots.
More than 31,000 people have been ordered to evacuate from the Hughes Fire, and another 23,000 are under evacuation warnings, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said.
There were no reports of homes or other structures burned.
Parts of Interstate 5 near the Hughes Fire that had been closed reopened on Wednesday evening.
A 48km stretch of the major north-south artery had been closed for emergency vehicles, to move equipment and to prevent accidents due to smoke billowing across it. Crews on the ground and in water-dropping aircraft tried to prevent the wind-driven fire from moving across the interstate and toward Castaic.
Marrone said that because winds were not as strong as they were two weeks ago, aircraft crews were able to drop fire retardant on the south side of the fire, where the flames were moving.
More than 4,000 firefighters had been assigned to the fire, he said.
Kayla Amara drove to Castaic’s Stonegate neighborhood to collect items from the home of a friend who had rushed to pick up her daughter at preschool. As Amara was packing the car, she learned the fire had exploded in size and decided to hose down the property.
“Other people are hosing down their houses, too. I hope there’s a house here to return to,” Amara said, as police cars raced through the streets and flames engulfed trees on a hillside in the distance.
Amara, a nurse who lives in nearby Valencia, said she had been on edge for weeks as major blazes devastated southern California.
“It’s been stressful with those other fires, but now that this one is close to home it’s just super stressful,” she said.
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