Thousands evacuate as fire rages near Los Angeles

A new, fast-moving wildfire has broken out in Los Angeles County, prompting tens of thousands of people to evacuate a region already hit by the most devastating fires in its history.

The Hughes fire ignited 45 miles (72 km) northwest of the city of Los Angeles on Wednesday morning, near Castaic Lake in a mountainous area that borders several residential areas and schools.

It grew to more than 10,000 acres in several hours Wednesday, driven by wind and dry brush. No homes or businesses were damaged, and officials expressed confidence in getting it under control.

The new fire is north of the two mammoth fires that have destroyed a number of neighborhoods this month.

Local news reports showed residents near the Hughes fire dousing their homes and gardens with water and others rushing to evacuate.

Orange flames lined the mountains as planes dropped water and flame retardant.

The region is again under a red flag warning, continuing until Thursday. This warns of high fire risk due to strong winds and dry, low humidity conditions.

Winds in the area were around 20–30 mph (32–48 km/h), but could pick up, which would fan the fire and make it more difficult for aircrews to operate.

Climate change has made the grasses and shrubs burning in the Los Angeles fires more vulnerable to burning, scientists have said.

Rapid “whiplash” style swings between dry and wet conditions in the region in recent years have created a massive amount of tinder-dry vegetation ready to catch fire.

About 31,000 people in the area are under a mandatory evacuation order, and another 23,000 have been warned they may need to evacuate, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said. Nearly 500 inmates at a local jail were evacuated, he added.

The fire continued to grow as the sun set Wednesday, but Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said he believed crews were making progress.

“The situation remains dynamic and the fire is still a difficult fire to contain even if we gain the upper hand,” he said. The fire was declared 14% contained early Thursday, according to the website of Cal Fire, California’s statewide fire authority.

A fire that is 100% contained does not mean that it is out, but rather that the flames have been completely surrounded and the spread effectively stopped.

Officials said the fire was different from the Palisades and Eaton fires, which killed at least 28 people and decimated more than 10,000 homes and businesses earlier this month.

Chief Marrone said they benefited from lower winds — as opposed to the 70-90 mph winds seen during the previous fires — and that they had so many helicopters and planes able to fight the fire from above.

“I think we’ve all been on edge over the last 16 days,” he said. “We were able to bring together a lot of brand resources early on to change what this brand looks like.”

Ed Fletcher, who works for Cal Fire, told the BBC that the area was not heavily populated and the current winds were blowing the fire towards Castaic Lake, which acted as a buffer for the Castaic area – home to about 20,000 residents.

But “if it jumps across the lake, it becomes a much more dynamic situation,” he said.

A woman who fled her home told NBC 4 she was stuck on Interstate 5, California’s primary transportation highway that runs through the state. Parts of the highway in the area had been closed due to the fire.

“It looked like a cloud, but when you got close it looked like we were driving into hell,” she said of the dark smoke and red flames she saw. “It was pretty scary.”

She acknowledged she was on edge after seeing the Palisades and Eaton fires burning nearby. “I don’t know why they keep showing up,” she said. “It’s certainly a scary time in this area.”

Have you been evacuated due to the fires? Get in touch if it is safe to do so.

Two other fires ignited Wednesday farther south, near San Diego and Oceanside. The Lilac Fire was declared fully contained after burning 85 acres. Like the separate Center fire, which has covered four hectares, it burned in populated areas. Evacuation orders have now been mostly lifted.

Dana Dierkes, a spokesman for the Angeles National Forest, noted that the wind and dry brush had made these recent fires much more difficult to fight.

“We don’t have a fire season in California. We have a fire year,” she said. “We’ve had wildfires in January before, but that’s exacerbated by the Santa Ana winds. The wind is a huge factor when we’ve had such a dry year.”

Rain is in the weekend forecast for the region, welcome news to extinguish the fire threat. But the expected rainfall brings new fears in the form of mudslides, floods and landslides.

Areas affected by recent fires are particularly vulnerable because burnt land is less absorbent.

State Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order Monday to help free up resources for flood and landslide preparation after the fires.

Herds have filled thousands of sandbags to danger areas.

Samantha Granville contributed to this report.