The Hughes Fire started on Wednesday and has already burnt over 15 square miles near Castaic Lake in northwest LA.More than 50,000 people have been urged to evacuate their homes as yet another wildfire rips through Los Angeles.
The Hughes Fire broke out just before 11am local time on Wednesday, and has already burnt over 15 square miles near Castaic Lake in the northwest of the city.Over 4,000 firefighters have been tasked with tackling the blaze as 31,000 have been ordered to evacuate and another 23,000 are under evacuation warnings. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.California Governor Gavin Newsom announced state resources have been dedicated to fighting the Hughes Fire and vowed to do whatever it takes to tackle it.
He wrote on X: “State resources have been deployed to the Hughes Fire in the Angeles National Forest to assist in the federal response.”We will continue to monitor the situation closely and provide the federal government with whatever it needs to extinguish this fire.”
Firefighters have been able to fight the Hughes Fire from the air, dropping fire retardant on its south side where it’s spreading from, and so far no homes of businesses have been destroyed.The fire has been aided by 42mph winds that are expected to increase to 60mph on Thursday, the National Weather Service said.
Red flag warnings for critical fire risk are in place until 10am on Friday in LA as officials are concerned that the Palisades and Eaton fires could break their containment lines.There are also warnings of the poor air quality as a result of the fires, which have filled the wind with ash, heavy metals, arsenic, and other harmful materials.Emergency services delivered a “robust response” to the Hughes Fire as it continues to burn, with fire chiefs praising the “great work” of responders.
Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said: “The situation that we’re in today is very different from the situation we were in 16 days ago.”
Joe Tyler, director of Cal Fire, added: “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.”