Firefighters and ground crews are battling a rapidly advancing wildfire in the Castaic Lake area north of Los Angeles.
A fast-moving wildfire has broken out in the mountains north of Los Angeles, scorching an estimated 21 square kilometers (8.1 square miles) of trees and brush, prompting evacuation orders for thousands of local residents and sending huge plumes of black smoke into the city. did. Sky.
Firefighters on Wednesday ordered local residents to evacuate amid an “imminent threat to life” from the Hughes Fire in the Castaic Lake area of Los Angeles County, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of the city. announced that it had been issued. .
An estimated 18,600 people live in the local community where the ferocious flames destroyed trees and brush in the hills surrounding Castaic Lake.
Robert Jensen of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said he hopes all residents in the areas affected by the fires will not suffer the same fate as some of the people in the devastating fires that hit Eaton, Palisades and other areas. He urged people to evacuate immediately. It killed 28 people and left thousands homeless.
“With the Palisades and Eaton fires, we saw the devastation caused by people not following orders,” Jensen said.
“We don’t want to see that in our community either. If there’s an evacuation order in place, please evacuate.”
U.S. TV news shows police driving through the Castaic area as crews on the ground and in planes dropping drops struggle to prevent wind-driven fires from moving south toward the populated foothills region. broadcast footage of people being asked to leave.
The fire was fanned by strong, dry Santa Ana winds that swept through the area, pushing a huge mass of smoke and embers ahead of the flames.
Los Angeles County Fire Department and Angeles National Forest firefighters were also attacking the blaze from the ground.
The cause of the fire was not immediately known, but meteorologists said it occurred under red flag conditions, with strong winds and low humidity creating conditions suitable for rapid fire spread. .
The University of California, San Diego shared a dramatic video on the ALERTCalifornia online platform showing the start of the Hughes Fire and its rapid development, showing huge plumes of smoke rapidly rising as the fire spread up a hillside.
The onset and rapid spread of the #Hughes Fire in Los Angeles County, as seen from AlertCalifornia’s Whitaker Ridge camera. Watch live with multiple cameras at https://t.co/Azu4PbZNY7 and check @Angeles_NF and @LACOFD for updates. pic.twitter.com/JyKOpyY2jx
— ALERTCalifornia (@ALERTCalifornia) January 22, 2025
US President Donald Trump criticized the response to previous wildfires in the Los Angeles area in his inaugural address on Monday and said he would visit the city on Friday.
The Eaton and Palisades fires, which also caused damage in Los Angeles, have been brought under tighter control as new fires rage in Castaic, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) announced.
The Eaton Fire, which burned 5,674 hectares (14,021 acres) east of Los Angeles, is now 91 percent contained, and the larger Palisades Fire, which burned 9,489 hectares (23,448 acres) west of Los Angeles, is nearly contained. Officials say it contains 70 percent.
The Eaton and Palisades fires have killed 28 people and damaged or destroyed about 16,000 structures since they began on January 7, Cal Fire said.
At one point, 180,000 people were under evacuation orders at the height of the wildfires, Los Angeles County officials said.
Private forecasting firm AccuWeather predicts more than $250 billion in damage and economic losses from the fires in the Los Angeles area.
