New Wildfire Near Los Angeles Grows to 9,400 Acres, Triggers Evacuations

New Wildfire Near Los Angeles Grows to 9,400 Acres, Triggers Evacuations

CASTAIC, California, Jan 23 (Reuters): The latest fire that broke out to the north from Los Angeles on Wednesday rapidly increased to more than 9.400 acres (38 square kilometers), driven by powerful breezes and dry grass. This prompted mandatory evacuation orders for more than 31,000 residents.
The Hughes fire, located fifty miles (80 km) north of Los Angeles, sent huge puffs of smoke and flames over the area’s hills. It also added stress to firefighters who have managed to bring the two burnings in the area largely under control.

Within a couple of days, on Wednesday afternoon, the fire had grown to a third of the size of the Eaton Fire, one of the two massive conflagrations that have destroyed areas around the Los Angeles area.
According to Matthew Van Hagen, a firefighters’ official, the affected area wasn’t as populated as the areas affected by flames.
“It’s more sparsely populated. However, out here, we are dealing with high winds, which we also saw with the other fires, along with … a very receptive fuel bed and steep topography again,” he added while firefighters battled the fire through late into the night.
Officials warned residents in the Castaic Lake region within Los Angeles County that they had to be prepared for an “immediate threat to life. ” A significant portion of Southern California remained under a red flag warning of high fire danger because of dry, strong winds.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna told a press event that 31,000 people had mandatory evacuation orders, and another 23,000 were warned of evacuation.
The Angeles National Forest said its entire 700,000-acre (2,800-sq-km) park located in the San Gabriel Mountains was closed to the public.

Due to the red flag warning, around 1,100 firefighters were on the ground in Southern California in anticipation of rapidly moving fires in the area, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire). More than 4,500 firefighters worked on Hughes Fire, Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said. Southern California has not seen significant rainfall for the past nine months, leading to dangerous conditions. However, there was a chance of rain on Saturday and Sunday, which could provide firefighters with the much-needed relief they need.
KTLA television footage revealed that helicopters lifted water from an eddy to pour it over the flame, and fixed-wing aeroplanes dropped fire retardants over the hills. The flames grew to the edge of the water.
Interstate 5, the major north-south road in the western United States, was temporarily shut down within the mountains pass regions called the Grapevine due to low visibility due to smoke, according to the California Highway Patrol. However, firefighters were able to reduce the flame enough so that the road could be opened again, Marrone said.
While the latest fire raged and raged, Cal Fire said the two deadly fires that devastated Los Angeles since Jan 7 were able to be contained.
The Eaton Fire, which scorched 14,021 acres (57 square kilometres) to the east of Los Angeles, was 91% contained. In contrast, the bigger Palisades Fire, which destroyed 23448 acres (95 square kilometres) on the western side of Los Angeles, was 68% contained.

Containment is the measure of the percentage of the fire’s area that firefighters can control.
Since the fires started in January. 7 they have ravaged an area as large as Washington, D.C., which killed 28 people and damaged or destroyed more than 16,000 homes, Cal Fire said. At one time, 180,000 people were in need of evacuation orders, in the words of Los Angeles County officials.
Private forecaster AccuWeather estimates economic and damage loss of over $250 billion.
In the past two weeks, a small number of wildfires have been put out or brought to a halt in Southern California.