By Artemis Moshtaghian, Amanda Musa and Emma Tucker, CNN
The smoke and flames of the Hughes Fire are seen near Castaic Lake, California, on Wednesday. Photo: David Swanson/Reuters via CNN Newsource
Thousands of Southern California residents were under evacuation orders on Wednesday (local time) as fire crews battled the out-of-control Hughes Fire near the town of Castaic, a suburb in the foothills and mountains of northern Los Angeles County.
As of 5pm (local time), the fire impacting both Los Angeles and Ventura counties had burned more than 9400 acres and was 0 percent contained, according to Los Angeles County Fire Department chief Anthony Marrone. No structures have been reported damaged or destroyed, Maronne said at a Wednesday evening news conference.
"We have over 4000 firefighting personnel assigned to the incident," Marrone said, noting the "robust" ground and air response to the fire.
The National Weather Service extended a red flag warning through Friday morning for most of Los Angeles and Ventura counties as moderate Santa Ana winds continue to move through the area, Marrone added.
The unincorporated community of Castaic is about 15 miles northwest of the city of Santa Clarita and borders the Angeles National Forest.
Approximately 31,000 residents are under evacuation orders, while 23,000 are under evacuation warnings, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna.
At the rate it's going, the blaze is burning a football field-sized area every 2 to 3 seconds. Winds in the area are currently around 20 mph (32 kmph) and pushing flames toward the southwest, with wind gusts up to 30-40 mph at some spots, according to the National Weather Service.
A county jail in Castaic has been partially evacuated, according to a spokesperson for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. The jail is just south of the fire area and can hold as many as 4295 inmates.
Approximately 470 inmates were evacuated from one of the three facilities on the campus and moved to another part of the detention center, Luna said. The other two facilities are "structured much better" than the one that was evacuated.
"We do have a plan in place … to evacuate the rest of the inmates on the entire facility if we absolutely had to," Luna said, without providing details.
Meanwhile, all students who attend Castaic Middle School and Castaic High School were evacuated Wednesday to a Ralph's supermarket parking lot, according to the California Highway Patrol. Students from North Lake Elementary were evacuated to the Castaic Sports Complex, the agency said on X.
The Hughes Fire burns north of Los Angeles on January 22 near Castaic, California. The fire is prompting mandatory evacuations just over two weeks after the Eaton and Palisades Fires caused massive destruction across Los Angeles County. Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images via CNN Newsource
The Valencia and Canyon Country campuses of College of the Canyons have been closed as a "precautionary measure" because of the Hughes Fire, the college said on its website.
Smoke is visible as far south as the city of Oxnard, about 50 miles southwest of Castaic in Ventura County, city officials said on social media Wednesday.
Images showed a large cloud of smoke moving west toward Interstate 5 as flames burned near Castaic Lake in the grassy hills just north of Santa Clarita.
The fire will likely spread toward the south and west, away from where it started, according to data and forecast models from thermal intelligence company Orora Technologies. Castaic is in considerable danger of being affected by spreading flames, the models show.
Satellite data used by Orora Technologies first detected a hotspot just north of Castaic Lake at 10.45am (local time) Officials with Cal Fire said they first detected a fire at 10.53am.
The area where the fire started and is currently burning is largely shrub and grassland, with some limited forested areas, additional data from Orora Technologies shows.
Thick brush in the area is serving as fuel for the rapid fire spread, according to Angeles National Forest spokesperson Dana Dierkes.
"We're in fairly steep conditions" and it's "incredibly dry," Dierkes told CNN affiliate KCAL on Wednesday. "There are homes in the general vicinity and in the immediate area."
Fire officials previously told KCAL at least 10 firefighting aircraft had been requested for the aerial attack.
The entirety of Angeles National Forest is closed to the general public through 24 January, according to the US Forest Service.
- CNN
