Thousands evacuate amid blaze near Los Angeles

A new, fast-moving wildfire has erupted in Los Angeles County, prompting tens of thousands of people to evacuate a region already reeling from the most destructive fires in its history.

The Hughes Fire broke out Wednesday afternoon about 45 miles northwest of the city of Los Angeles, near Castaic Lake, in a mountainous area bordering several residential areas and schools.

The out-of-control fire grew to more than 9,400 acres in several hours, fueled by winds and dry brush acting as fuel. No homes or businesses were damaged, but about 31,000 residents were forced to flee and Interstate 5 – the main highway that runs along the west coast of the United States from Mexico to Canada – is closed.

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

Two other fires broke out further 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 Bernardo Fire — but were burning in populated areas. Fire crews appeared to have both fires under control and evacuation orders had been mostly lifted and progress halted.

In Los Angeles County, local news showed people near the Hughes Fire dousing their homes and yards with water and others rushing to evacuate neighborhoods.

Orange flames lined the mountains as the plane dropped water and flame retardant.

The region is once again under a red flag, which warns of a high fire risk due to high winds and dry, low-humidity conditions.

Winds in the area are gusting between 20 and 30 mph, but are expected to strengthen throughout the day, which could allow the fire to grow and make it more difficult for air crews to continue their fight from above.

About 31,000 people in the area are under mandatory evacuation orders and another 23,000 are under warnings, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said. A prison in the region was in the process of evacuating nearly 500 inmates, he added.

The fire continued to grow as the sun set, but Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said he believed crews were making progress.

“The situation remains dynamic and the fire remains a difficult fire to contain, even if we gain the upper hand,” he said.

Ed Fletcher, who works for Cal Fire, the California state firefighting agency, told the BBC that this fire was different from those earlier this month. The winds aren’t as strong yet, he said, and many crews are trying to tame the flames.

“It’s very dry and we know it will get 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, which is home to about 20,000 residents.

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

A woman who evacuated her home told NBC 4 she was stuck on Interstate 5, California’s main transportation highway that passes through the state. Parts of the highway in the area had been closed due to the fire.

“It looked like a cloud, but as we got closer it looked like we were going to hell,” she said of the black smoke and red flames she saw. “It was pretty terrifying to be honest with you.”

She admitted to being nervous after watching the Palisades and Eaton fires burn nearby, killing at least 28 people and decimating more than 10,000 homes and businesses.

“I don’t know why they keep popping up,” she said. “It’s definitely a scary time in this business.”

Dana Dierkes, spokesperson for the Angeles National Forest, noted that winds 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 before in January, but they’re exacerbated by the Santa Ana winds. Wind is a huge factor when we’ve had such a dry year.”

Rain is forecast for the weekend in the area, good news for extinguishing the fire threat. But the rainfall is causing new fears in the form of mudslides, floods and landslides.

Areas affected by recent fires are particularly at risk because burned soils are not as absorbent. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order Monday to help free up resources for post-fire flood and landslide preparedness.

The teams filled thousands of sandbags for impacted areas.

Samantha Granville contributed to this report.