The Associated Press, by Marcio Jose Sanchez and Christopher Weber
California’s Castaic. As a massive and rapidly spreading wildfire ripped across the rocky hillsides north of Los Angeles on Wednesday, more than 50,000 people were under evacuation orders or advisories. However, fire officials reported that they were gaining the upper hand thanks to a swift ground and air assault.
About 40 miles (64 kilometers) from the destructive Eaton and Palisades fires, which are in their third week of rage, the Hughes Fire started in the late morning and burned over 15 square miles (39 square kilometers) of trees and brush close to Lake Castaic, a well-liked recreation area. Firefighting planes were able to dump tens of thousands of gallons of fire retardant because winds were not as strong as they had been when those fires started, even though the area was under a red flag warning.
“We’re in a very different situation now than we were sixteen days ago,” Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone stated on Wednesday night.
No houses or other buildings were reported to have burned.
As you can see behind us, the responders are working really hard to attempt to limit this fire, which had a strong response today, said Joe Tyler, director of Cal Fire. Of course, we haven’t left the woods yet.
According to LA County Sheriff Robert Luna, about 31,000 individuals have received evacuation orders, and another 23,000 are under evacuation warnings.
On Wednesday night, portions of Interstate 5 that had been closed began to reopen.
The key north-south route was closed to emergency vehicles for 30 miles (48 kilometers) in order to shift equipment and prevent accidents caused by smoke blowing across the freeway. Crews on the ground and in helicopters that dropped water attempted to stop the wind-driven fire from spreading toward Castaic across the freeway.
According to Marrone, aviation operators were able to drop fire retardant on the south side of the fire, where the flames were moving, because the winds were not as severe as they were two weeks earlier.
According to the National Weather Service on the social media site X, the area’s winds were blowing at 42 mph (67 kph) in the afternoon but were predicted to reach 60 mph (96 kph) by Thursday evening.
On Wednesday, January 22, 2025, County Sheriff officers monitor flames from the Hughes Fire along a roadside near Castaic, California, before getting back into their car. (Photo by Ethan Swope for AP)
In order to get belongings from a friend’s house who had hurried to pick up her daughter from preschool, Kayla Amara drove to Castaic’s Stonegate area. Amara decided to hose down the property after learning that the fire had grown in size while she was packing the car.
Additionally, other folks are hosing down their homes. As police cars sped through the streets and trees on a hillside in the distance were consumed by fire, Amara remarked, “I hope there’s a house here to return to.”
As significant fires ravaged Southern California, Amara, a nurse who lives in nearby Valencia, said she has been anxious for weeks.
“Those other fires have been stressful, but now that this one is near home, it’s just really stressful,” she added.
While some people were permitted to return to the burned-out Altadena and Pacific Palisades neighborhoods, officials in Los Angeles started preparing for possible rain to the south. The National Weather Service said that precipitation might begin on Saturday and that gusty weather would persist through Thursday.
At a news conference on Wednesday morning, Supervisor Kathryn Barger stated that rains are expected and that there is a serious risk of mud and debris flowing into our neighborhoods affected by the fire.
While county workers cleaned drainage basins and pipes and put up barriers, fire crews filled sandbags for communities.
In Ventura and Los Angeles counties, red flag warnings for critical fire risk were extended until 10 a.m. on Friday. As firefighters continue to search for hot spots, officials were still worried that the Eaton and Palisades fires would breach their containment lines.
On Wednesday, January 22, 2025, a wildfire in Castaic, California, fills the sky with smoke. (Photo by Ethan Swope for AP)
During the most recent Santa Ana wind episode, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass cautioned that winds may transport ash and encouraged residents to visit the city’s website to learn how to protect themselves from harmful air. Barbara Ferrer, the director of public health for LA County, warned that the ash may contain arsenic, heavy metals, and other dangerous substances.
Ferrer said on Wednesday that even a short exposure could irritate the skin and result in more severe issues, urging everyone to use protective clothing while cleaning up.
As firefighters continued to fight the Palisades and Eaton fires, which have destroyed over 14,000 houses and killed at least 28 people since they started on January 7, they encountered low humidity, bone-dry vegetation, and strong winds. The Eaton Fire was 91% contained, while the Palisades Fire was 68% contained.
On Wednesday, Luna said that his department was still looking into 22 ongoing claims of missing persons in both fire zones. “Everyone who has been reported missing is an adult,” he stated.
The causes of the fires are being looked into by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, but no results have been made public.
People who lost their homes in the Eaton Fire have filed a number of lawsuits, claiming that Southern California Edison’s equipment was the cause of the fire. The company was ordered to provide data from circuits in the vicinity of the fire’s origin by a judge presiding over one of the lawsuits on Tuesday.
It was from Los Angeles that Weber reported. This article was contributed to by Associated Press journalists Julie Walker in New York, Hallie Golden in Seattle, Jaimie Ding in Los Angeles, and Ethan Swope in Castaic.
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