Some 50,000 evacuated after yet another LA fire tears through mountains in California
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More than 50,000 people are under evacuation orders or warnings as another huge wildfire sweeps through rugged mountains north of Los Angeles. Dubbed The Hughes Fire, the blaze broke out on Wednesday and quickly charred more than 15 square miles of trees and brush near Lake Castaic, a popular recreation area. Firefighters are tackling the blaze and authorities have ordered thousands of people to flee their properties.
But the situation is less bleak than the picture at the start of the month as wind speeds are expected to be light. Joe Tyler, director of Cal Fire said: "This fire had a robust response today, and as you can see behind us, the responders are doing great work to try to contain this fire. Certainly, we are not out of the woods yet.".
More than 31,000 people have been ordered to evacuate, and another 23,000 are under evacuation warnings, LA County Sheriff Robert Luna said. Parts of Interstate 5 that had been closed will shortly be reopened, he added. A 30-mile stretch of the major north-south artery had been closed for emergency vehicles and moving equipment.
Aircraft crews were able to drop fire retardant on the south side of the fire, where the flames were moving. Winds in the area were gusting at 42 mph (67 kph) in the afternoon but were expected to increase to 60 mph (96 kph) by later in the evening and Thursday, the National Weather Service said on the social platform X.
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 Ms Amara was packing the car, she learned the fire had exploded in size and decided to hose down the property. Ms Amara, who is a nurse, said: "Other people are hosing down their houses, too. I hope there's a house here to return to. It’s been stressful with those other fires, but now that this one is close to home it's just super stressful.".
