CASTAIC, Calif. (AP) — Firefighters battled Thursday to maintain the upper hand on a huge wildfire that swept through rugged mountains north of Los Angeles and left over 50,000 people under evacuation orders or warnings.
The Hughes Fire broke out late Wednesday morning and in less than a day had charred nearly 16 square miles of trees and brush near Castaic Lake, a popular recreation area about 40 miles from the devastating Eaton and Palisades fires that are burning for a third week.
The Hughes blaze didn’t grow much overnight and crews hoped to increase containment before winds pick up again later in the day, fire spokesperson Jeremy Ruiz said Thursday morning.
“We had helicopters dropping water until around 3 a.m. That kept it in check,” he said.
As of Wednesday night, the fire was about 14% contained.
Though the region was under a red flag warning for critical fire risk, winds were not as strong as they had been when the Palisades and Eaton fires broke out, allowing for firefighting aircraft to dump tens of thousands of gallons of fire retardant.
Red flag warnings were extended through Friday morning in LA and Ventura counties.
More than 31,000 people have been ordered to evacuate from the Hughes Fire, and another 23,000 are under evacuation warnings, LA County Sheriff Robert Luna said. There were no reports of homes or other structures burned.
Parts of Interstate 5 near the Hughes Fire that had been closed reopened Wednesday evening.
A 30-mile stretch of the major north-south artery had been closed for emergency vehicles, to move equipment and to prevent accidents due to smoke billowing across it.
Winds in the area were gusting at 42 mph in the afternoon. They had reached as high as 65 mph in some mountain pockets by Wednesday night, according to David Roth, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
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 Amara was packing the car, she learned the fire had exploded in size and decided to hose down the property.
“Other people are hosing down their houses, too. I hope there’s a house here to return to,” Amara said as police cars raced through the streets and flames engulfed trees on a hillside in the distance.
Amara, a nurse who lives in nearby Valencia, said she’s been on edge for weeks as major blazes devastated Southern California.
“It’s been stressful with those other fires, but now that this one is close to home it’s just super stressful,” she said.
