Hughes wildfire rages in northern Los Angeles County, forcing evacuation of 31,000 people

A wildfire is once again threatening thousands of people in California. Like the fires of two weeks ago, which struck almost without warning, a huge curtain of smoke is hanging over the communities of Castaic and Santa Clarita in northern Los Angeles County. Named Hughes, the fire has been raging since it was reported at about 11:00 a.m. Wednesday morning. In just a few hours, the fire destroyed 3,800 hectares, forcing the mandatory evacuation of some 31,000 people with another 23,000 under evacuation warnings, L.A. County Sheriff Robert Luna said. There were no reports of homes or other structures burned.

Hughes advanced at incredible speed. A Fire Department spokesman said the flames were consuming some 14 hectares per minute, driven by the Santa Ana winds, which originate in the interior of California and travel between the state’s mountain ranges. In a little over six hours, these air currents caused the area threatened by Hughes to grow from 20 hectares to almost 4,000 hectares.

Officials told a press conference that the wind strength was expected to diminish between Wednesday and Thursday. “We’re not too worried about it,” said a spokesman for CAL Fire, the state firefighting force responsible for battling these types of fires. The lull in the wind would make it possible to tackle the flames more effectively. State officials had already warned that high winds would be prevalent again this week, prolonging a fire season that has killed at least 25 people and destroyed tens of thousands of homes both east and west of Los Angeles.

By Wednesday night, about 14% of the Hughes Fire had been contained. “The situation that we’re in today is very different from the situation we were in 16 days ago,” Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said Wednesday evening. Red flag warnings were extended through 10 a.m. Friday in L.A. and Ventura counties. Officials remained concerned that the Palisades and Eaton fires could break their containment lines as firefighters continue watching for hot spots.

State authorities urgently mobilized eight California National Guard aircraft to fight the fire from the air. About 20 firefighting vehicles and heavy machinery have also been sent to the affected region, 40 miles north of Los Angeles, to cut off the flames. This event, which is taking place on federal land, has forced the California state government to send 1,100 firefighters to the area. By late Wednesday afternoon that number had swelled to about 4,000, according to the state authorities.

Meanwhile, evacuation orders were issued. The first to receive them were the residential neighborhoods northwest of the No. 5 freeway, which crosses California from south to north, and which was closed for several hours. Firefighters were forced to reverse the closure so as not to obstruct the passage of first responders along the highway. The evacuation was extended to nearby neighborhoods and areas to the south, including several elementary schools. Students were moved to Hart High School in the town of Santa Clarita, which has been converted into a temporary center for displaced persons. Classes in the entire region were suspended on Thursday.

Another issue of concern to authorities is the possibility of the fire reaching the Pitchess prison, which would force the evacuation of its 5,000 inmates. Luna had initially assured that the jail was not within the area to be evacuated, but the advance of Hughes finally forced authorities to take measures to protect the inmates. The sheriff himself later confirmed to the media that some 400 inmates were being moved to a large concrete building where they would be sheltered from the flames.

“Two of the three structures we have there are made of this material and our experts tell us they will be safe,” Luna told CBS. “We have a plan to evacuate them if we have to,” the sheriff added hours later at a press conference.

This new fire comes two weeks after the Eaton and Palisades fires ravaged the communities of Pacific Palisades and Altadena. Those two fires required the mobilization of a small army of 15,000 firefighters. Despite this, the blazes consumed more than 16,000 acres of the city and caused 25 deaths. Hughes now demonstrates that California’s fire season is not over.

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