LOS ANGELES—Firefighters gained more ground Thursday on a fast-moving brush fire that broke out north of Los Angeles on Wednesday and within hours exploded to thousands of acres amid high winds, authorities said.
The Hughes Fire, which started near Castaic Lake, was 36% contained and had burned more than 10,000 acres by Thursday night, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, known as Cal Fire.
No structures have been destroyed, officials said.
The fire had prompted mandatory evacuation orders Wednesday for more than 31,000 people. They had been lifted by Thursday afternoon, but about 54,900 people remained under an evacuation warning, meaning they should be prepared to leave if ordered, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said.
“This fire was one of those fires driven by the Santa Ana wind, which Brent Pascua, a Cal Fire battalion chief, said Thursday.
The fire, which occurred when the region was under a high wind and critical fire weather warning, broke out just over two weeks after the devastating Palisades and Eaton fires in the Los Angeles area, killing at least 28 people. and destroying thousands of homes.
It was reported at 10:24 a.m. Wednesday near Lake Hughes Road near Lake Castaic in northern Los Angeles County, fire officials said. The dry, dead and dying brush gave him a lot of fuel, Pascua said.
The cause was under investigation.
A second fire also broke out Wednesday in Sepulveda Pass, growing to 40 acres near the densely populated Sherman Oaks neighborhood and UCLA, but its progress was halted, and Cal Fire said it was 60% contained as of Thursday.
The area remained under “red flag” warnings until 10 a.m. Friday, the National Weather Service said, although Thursday was the best day of concern. “Any fire that starts can grow quickly and out of control,” the agency warned.
The winds that fueled fire spread from the Hughes Fire on Wednesday were not as powerful as the hurricane-force winds that fueled the Palisades and Eaton fires on Jan. 7, Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony said. Marrone. Those winds kept planes on the ground.
Experts have pointed to the link between climate change and conditions that make fires like those that have raged in Los Angeles in recent weeks more likely.
The Palisades and Eaton fires destroyed entire communities, and the city’s fire chief has called them one of the worst disasters in Los Angeles history.
The Eaton Fire, which devastated the Altadena community and burned homes in other cities, was 95% contained Thursday after burning more than 14,000 acres, fire officials said. More than 9,400 structures, including homes, have been destroyed.
The Palisades Fire damaged or destroyed thousands of structures in Pacific Palisades and Malibu and along the scenic Pacific Coast Highway. It has burned more than 23,400 acres and was 72% contained as of Thursday, Cal Fire said in an update.
Both fires occurred during extreme Santa Ana winds that gusted at more than 80 mph, a signature force of hurricanes, which created what officials have called a firestorm.
The causes of both fires remained under investigation.
