Thousands evacuate amid flames near Los Angeles

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

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

The fire grew to more than 9,200 acres in several hours Wednesday, fueled by wind and dry brush. No homes or businesses were damaged and the fire department expressed confidence in getting the fire under control.

The new fire is located north of the two mammoth wildfires – which are still burning – that destroyed several neighborhoods in the Los Angeles area earlier this month.

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

Orange flames lined the mountains as aircraft lost water and flame retardant.

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

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

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. A prison in the area was evacuating nearly 500 inmates at the facility, he added.

The fire continued to grow as the sun went down, 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, although we are getting the upper hand,” he said.

Chief Marrone explained how different this fire is compared to the Palisades and Eaton fires, which killed at least 28 people and decimated more than 10,000 homes and businesses earlier this month.

He said it was a mix of lower winds — as opposed to the 70 to 90 mph winds seen during the previous fires — and having 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 – California’s statewide fire service – told the BBC this fire was different from those earlier this month. The wind is not that strong yet, he said, and there are a lot of crews trying to tame the flames.

“It’s super dry and we know it’s going to be windier and windier later,” he said. “We’ll know more in a few hours.”

Mr. Fletcher noted that the area is not heavily populated and current winds are blowing the fire toward Castaic Lake, which acts as a buffer between the Castaic area — home to about 20,000 residents.

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

A woman who evacuated 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 to be honest with you.”

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 definitely a scary time in this area.”

Two other fires ignited Wednesday farther south near San Diego and Oceanside, officials said.

They are both smaller — 85 acres for the Lilac fire near Oceanside and 3.9 acres for the Center fire — but burned in populated areas. Firefighters appeared to have both flames under control, and evacuation orders had mostly been lifted.

Dana Dierkes, a spokesman for the Angeles National Forest, noted that the wind and dry brush have 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 rainfall brings new fears in the form of mudslides, floods and landslides.

Areas affected by the recent fires are particularly vulnerable because burnt soils are not as absorbent.

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.