Hughes Fire, latest horrific wildfire to explode in LA area, forces more than 30K to evacuate, torches over 10K acres after ‘nuclear’ prediction
A terrifying fast-moving new wildfire burning out of control north of Los Angeles quickly torched nearly 10,000 acres Wednesday, with more than 30,000 people ordered to evacuate just weeks after dangerous winds caused deadly infernos to erupt across Southern California.
The blaze, called the Hughes Fire, broke out before 11 a.m. just north of the town of Castaic — about 40 miles from the devastating Eaton and Palisades fires — as a 50-acre fire and exploded to about 10,176 acres by evening, according to Los Angeles Fire Chief Anthony Marrone.
About 31,000 people were ordered to evacuate and another 23,000 people are in areas where evacuation warnings were issued, according to the LA County Sheriff’s Department.
No structures have been reported damaged or destroyed, fire officials said, with about 4,000 firefighters responding to the blaze.
Maronne said personnel will be on-scene for the remainder of the night into Thursday morning to contain hot spots.
“Do not drive into these areas,” Los Angeles Sheriff Robert Luna said.
“You are impacting the ingress and egress of emergency vehicles, and we don’t need more traffic. We want less traffic. We don’t want you walking around in the impacted areas to impact the community members who live here.”
Luna also encouraged residents to stay out of evacuated zones, with the department providing additional manpower to protect homes.
At about 10:45 a.m. on Wednesday, a huge column of smoke was spotted in the wilderness near Santa Clarita, prompting first responders to request four aircraft and 50 fire engines, according to the fire monitoring organization Watch Duty.
The initial request indicated a fire that was already nearly out of control, said Jacob Weigley, wildfire coordinator for Central Pierce County, Wash., who has been in contact with colleagues near the scene and monitoring the fire’s spread.
“That one’s gonna go nuclear. It’s big,” he told The Post.
“You know what the fuels are capable of doing that in the area right now, and what the wind does is going to be a big deal for this,” Weigley added, referring to the recent high winds and dry conditions that sparked the deadly and ongoing LA wildfires earlier this month.
The Palisades Fire, which has burned more than 24,000 acres of Los Angeles since it ignited on Jan. 7, was 63% contained on Wednesday morning.
The Eaton Fire, which has burned around 14,000 acres in northern LA County, was 91% contained.
The Hughes Fire forced officials to close a 30-mile stretch of the 5 freeway in both directions as flames raced along hilltops and down into wooded canyons – but has since reopened.
One of the three facilities that house 476 inmates at Pitchess Detention Center in Castaic was also evacuated, with prisoners moving to a brick facility located at the same complex, Luna said.
He said a plan is in place at the prison — where 4,500 inmates remain behind bars –— in the event fire conditions worsen, calling the blaze an evolving incident.
It remains unclear what started the fire, which remains at 0% containment.
Weekend rains could finally help tamp down the wildfires, but those rains could bring deadly mudslides and flooding to the communities in and around the fire zones.
Red Flag Warnings will remain in effect through Friday morning for most of LA and Ventura counties, with light to moderate Santa Ana winds continuing through Thursday.
“The weather is what’s predominantly driving this fire and its spread right now,” Marrone said.
“The situation remains dynamic and the fire remains a difficult fire to contain although we are getting the upper hand.”
