On January 22, 2025, smoke from the Hughes Fire filled the sky in Castaic, a community northwest of Los Angeles, California. A police sergeant watched the fire rush up a hill.
Frederic J. Brown | Frederic J. Brown AFP | Getty Images
A new wildfire that broke out north of Los Angeles quickly spread to more than 9,400 acres (38 square kilometers) on Wednesday, driven by strong winds and dry brush, forcing more than 31,000 people to evacuate.
The Hughes Fire, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of Los Angeles, has unleashed huge flames and thick smoke in hilly terrain, further taxing firefighters who have managed to keep two major blazes in the metropolitan area largely under control.
In just a few hours on Wednesday, the new fire had grown to two-thirds the size of the Eaton Fire, one of two blazes ravaging the Los Angeles area.
Firefighter spokesman Matthew Van Hagen said the population in the affected area was not as high as it was at the time of the fire.
“It’s more sparsely populated. However, here we have strong winds, which we’ve seen on other fires, plus… very receptive fuel beds and steep terrain,” he told Firefighters Said it was evening as he put out the fire.
On January 22, 2025, the Hughes Fire broke out in Castaic, California, USA, and people evacuated their homes.
Joel Angel Juarez | Reuters
Officials warned people in the Castaic Lake area of ​​Los Angeles County that they faced an “immediate threat to life,” while much of Southern California remained under red flags of extreme fire risk due to strong dry winds.
About 31,000 people are under mandatory evacuation orders and another 23,000 people face evacuation warnings, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said at a news conference.
The Los Angeles National Forest said its entire 700,000-acre (2,800-square-kilometer) park in the San Gabriel Mountains is closed to visitors.
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) said red flag warnings have deployed about 1,100 firefighters around Southern California as the fires are expected to spread quickly. Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said more than 4,000 firefighters are fighting the Hughes Fire.
Southern California has gone nine months without significant rain, leading to dangerous conditions, but some rain is expected Saturday into Monday, which could give firefighters much-needed relief.
The Hughes Fire burns behind the Six Flags Magic Mountain skyline on January 22, 2025 in Valencia, California.
Brandon Bell | Getty Images
KTLA TV station video showed helicopters scooping water from lakes to put out fires and fixed-wing aircraft dropping retardant on mountains. The flames spread to the water’s edge.
Interstate 5, a major north-south highway in the western U.S., was temporarily closed in the pass area known as Grapevine due to poor visibility due to smoke, the California Highway Patrol said. But firefighters were able to put out enough of the fire to reopen the highway, Malone said.
Cal Fire said that while new fires are still raging, the two deadly fires that have ravaged Los Angeles since January 7 are now under better control.
The Eaton Fire, which has burned 14,021 acres (57 square kilometers) east of Los Angeles, is 91% contained, while the larger Palisades Fire, which has burned 23,448 acres (95 square kilometers) west of Los Angeles, is 68% contained. control.
Containment measures the percentage of a fire that firefighters control.
The two fires have burned an area nearly the size of Washington, D.C., killed 28 people and damaged or destroyed nearly 16,000 structures since they broke out on Jan. 7, Cal Fire said. At one point, 180,000 people were under evacuation orders, according to Los Angeles County officials.
Private forecaster AccuWeather expects damages and economic losses to exceed $250 billion.
A series of smaller wildfires in Southern California have been extinguished or largely contained over the past two weeks.
