- The Hughes fire broke out Wednesday, the latest in a string of wildfires in Southern California.
- As of Thursday morning, the fire covered over 10,000 acres and was only 14% contained.
- Another small fire broke out overnight along a major freeway, but its forward progress was stopped.
Los Angeles was bracing itself yet again Thursday after a new fire broke out north of the city that has so far spread to more than 10,000 acres.
The Hughes Fire started at about 10:50 a.m. local time Wednesday near Castaic, north of Los Angeles. It was first reported at about 50 acres — but soon mushroomed to more than 10,000 acres by midnight, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire. As of Thursday morning, it was 14% contained.
The new fire comes as the Southern California region was still reeling from the fires that burned through more than 37,000 acres earlier this month.
Cal Fire said a second, small blaze also broke out early Thursday just east of a major freeway, the I-405, near Sepulveda Pass.
Air support and “other aggressive actions” were deployed to fight it, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said.
Named the Sepulveda Fire, it has burned through 40 acres with 0% contained as of early Thursday morning, Cal Fire said. But within a few hours, its forward progress was stopped, the Los Angeles Fire Department said.
An evacuation warning for the area — which contained a $30 million property owned by Rupert Murdoch, per the Los Angeles Times — has since been lifted.
The causes of both fires remain unknown.
For areas near the Hughes Fire, evacuation orders were issued for more than 31,000 people and evacuation warnings were issued for another 23,000 people, officials said at a press conference.
The vital I-5 freeway was also temporarily closed as a result of the Hughes Fire, and some off-ramps in the area remained closed Wednesday evening.
Daniel Swain, a UCLA climate scientist, said in a livestream that while some rain was expected in the area later in the week, winds continued to challenge the firefighting efforts in the dry, brushy area and threatened to push the flames west into Ventura County.
“This is not a good place to have a fire under northeast winds, because there is an almost contiguous, very dense fuel bed all in this region,” Swain said, according to the Times.
Earlier this month, the Palisades and Eaton Fires tore through the Pacific Palisades and Altadena, killing at least 27 people, destroying thousands of homes and other structures, and causing what could amount to $275 billion in damages by AccuWeather’s estimate.
This story is developing. Check back for updates.
