Hughes fire surpasses 10000 acres near Castaic; evacuations ...

A hard-charging brush fire erupted in northern Los Angeles County on Wednesday, hustling through more than 10,000 acres of terrain so far, aided by heavy, dry brush and pushed by gusting Santa Ana winds, Cal Fire officials said.

Named the Hughes fire, the blaze was reported just after 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 22, in the area of Lake Hughes Road and the 5 Freeway and close to Castaic Lake, according to Cal Fire.

Late Wednesday the fire was 14% contained, the Angeles National Forest said.

No structures have been reported damaged or destroyed so far.

Crews on the scene reported the fire was spreading rapidly, spotting across Lake Hughes Road and prompting evacuation orders and warnings in the Castaic Lake area.

More than 4,000 fire personnel have been assigned to the Hughes fire using ground and air resources, including about a dozen helicopters and helitankers that can drop between 360 and 3,000 gallons of water at a time, officials said.

Crews will be working overnight to extinguish any hot spots or flare ups, said L.A. County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone.

“The situation remains dynamic, and the fire remains a difficult fire to control,” Marrone said. “Although, we are getting the upper hand.”

Here’s what we know:

• Acres burned: 10,176
• Containment: 14%
• Structures damaged: 0
• Updated evacuations can be monitored here.
• 31,000 residents are under mandatory evacuation orders. 23,000 under evacuation warning.
• This map shows where the fire is burning.
• An evacuation center was set up at College of the Canyons in Santa Clarita.
• Fire Personnel: More than 4,000

Sustained Winds Drive Fire

High winds, blowing northeast to southwest, are expected to continue in the area throughout the afternoon and overnight, further inhibiting firefighting efforts, according to the National Weather Service Los Angeles. There could be gusts up to 65 mph. Strong winds and gusts are expected to continue into the later hours and Thursday.

“Winds will be elevated enough to cause explosive fire behavior,” meteorologist Ariel Cohen said. “This is a very volatile situation and everyone needs to be prepared.”

Much of Los Angeles County and beyond remains under a “critical fire weather” red flag warning due to the dry, windy conditions throughout the region. The National Weather Service extended the red flag warning for much of Los Angeles and Ventura counties through 10 a.m. Friday.

“It’s not over yet,” said Cal Fire Director Joe Tyler. “We recognize we still got a couple days to go.”

Evacuations

Evacuation warnings are now in place as far south as Highway 126 and north to Highway 138. Warnings are also in place to the Ventura County line just south of Pyramid Lake.

Mandatory evacuation orders have been expanded to the southwest, into the heart of Castaic. The Castaic Sports Complex, also under a mandatory evacuation order, is being used as a fire command post.

As of Wednesday evening, evacuation orders are impacting 31,000 people, and another 23,000 are affected by evacuation warnings.

A temporary evacuation point was set up at Hart High School in Santa Clarita. The official evacuation center was at College of the Canyons East Gym, 26455 Rockwell Canyon Road in Santa Clarita, where the Red Cross was on site.

Animal shelter locations include the Palmdale and Lancaster Animal Care Centers for small animals and the Lancaster Animal Care Center and Pierce College for large animals. The Agoura Animal Care center is now full and no longer able to accept animals, according to a post by the County of Los Angeles on X.

Students from Castaic middle and elementary schools were evacuated to a Ralphs parking lot in Hasley Canyon Village, where parents should pick them up. North Lake Elementary School students were evacuated to the Castaic Sports Complex.

One of the Pitchess Detention Center campuses in Castaic evacuated 476 inmates to the nearby North County Correction Facility on Wednesday, Einer Rivera, law enforcement tech with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Information Bureau confirmed. In case conditions worsen, officials have a plan to evacuate the facility, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said.

Michael Flores, 57, and four other residents watched as the fire inched closer and closer to their homes.

The single-story home Flores has lived in for 27 years was just outside the mandatory evacuation zone. No matter how close it gets, he said he’s not leaving.

“I’m going to get the hose out if I have to cause I’m not leaving… no matter what,” Flores said.

Castaic High School freshman Miguel Sanchez was at school when he began hearing about the fire, at first seeing smoke and small flames through a classroom window. Eventually, they watched as the fire grew larger and larger, fear mounting within the students as they grabbed their phones to text their parents. Soon, the 15 year old and his classmates heard their principal announcing that the school would be evacuating.

“I really felt like I had to get to my parents, especially, but my friends, I want to make sure my friends also got there safe so I was accompanying them,” he said of his feelings as the school evacuated.

A friend offered him a ride down the hill to where Sanchez’s mother works, where he was when he realized his home was in an area being evacuated.

“We got a lot of our stuff out of our house, as fast as we can,” he said.

He and his family focused on getting their important documents out and then went to the temporary evacuation site at Hart High School, a situation that, combined with evacuating mid school day, has been a “roller coaster.”

“We didn’t really want to leave Castaic. We were not sure if the flames were going to go down in a short period of time, so we chose the closest spot to Castaic,” Sanchez said.

Eleanor Moschetti, 82, was at a physical therapy appointment when her husband, Tom, 84, came into the building, saying “we need to go home. They just evacuated us.” They had seen some smoke as they drove to the appointment, but had no idea the fire would become so large.

“I waited for her in the car, listening to the radio and then I heard that the fire was much bigger and it was spreading much faster and then I heard about the evacuation orders,” Tom said. “So then I went in and got her and said `we need to leave, we’re evacuated,’ but in truth we were already evacuated because we had left the house. So we decided not to go home, because all the information we got said we can’t get home and all the roads were closed.”

Figuring that they might be dealing with road closures by the time they made their way back to their house, the Moschettis, who have lived in North Lake Castaic for 25 years, made their way to the temporary evacuation center. Luckily, Eleanor’s daughter and granddaughter were able to get to their home, grabbing their already packed important documents and clothes.

No strangers to natural disasters, the Moschettis have lived through earthquakes in California and hurricanes in Puerto Rico, but say the fast and unpredictable nature of fires can be uniquely stressful.

“With the fires, you don’t know about the fires. You have some time to prepare, but it’s not like a hurricane where you have three or four days to prepare,” Tom said.

The couple is grateful that the evacuation center exists for those who need it and that they have family they will be able to go stay with if the evacuation directives are not lifted.

“When following the fires in the Palisades and Pasadena, Altadena, following that, and then you have this (Hughes fire) and then you have that fear in your mind, how fast that fire can travel from the forest area to houses and go from house to house to house,” Tom said. “We’re just grateful that, so far, I think we’re going to be okay.”

Road Closures

As of about 6:30 p.m., the 5 Freeway reopened in both directions after closing for several hours.

Earlier in the day, areas of the 5 Freeway near Castaic Lake and the Hughes fire were “affected by the heavy smoke,” which affected drivers’ visibility, according to the California Highway Patrol.

Two northbound freeway off-ramps remain closed at Parker Road and at Lake Hughes Road, the CHP said.

Ridge Route Road is closed at Lake Hughes and at Templin Highway. Lake Hughes is closed at Pine Canyon, and Dry Gulch is closed at San Francisquito Canyon Road.

Firefighters from the LA County Fire Department and Angeles National Forest were attacking the blaze. It was unclear what sparked the fire, which occurred during persistent red flag fire conditions.

The Angeles National Forest was closed before the blaze ignited because of persistent fire-weather conditions. The area was scheduled to stay closed through Friday.

21-year-old Sophia Barnes is new to California, having moved to Castaic from Oregon just about a year ago, and new to experiencing wildfires.

The Hughes fire is her first experience with wildfires. Waiting at an evacuation site at Hart High School with her mother, brother, and six pets, including two bunnies, a 16-year-old cat and three rescue dogs, Barnes felt stress and concern after rushing to Castaic from Los Angeles, where she was visiting her boyfriend. Her home is in a mandatory evacuation zone.

“I was on the phone with my friend, having her go get my animals while my brother’s also at home trying to get everything packed because my mom was at work,” she said. “She was so stressed out and I was too because I’m trying to get home and I don’t know where I’m going because roads, some of them are kind of closed so it was just really stressful.”

Though evacuating with her family and pets proved stressful and a bit chaotic, Barnes has found support within the Castaic community, which she described as always nice and helpful, especially from her coworkers at Starbucks where she works as a barista, as she navigates this previously unknown experience.

“This is my first experience with wildfires and it’s very scary and I’m kind of  just trying to figure out where to go from here,” Barnes said. “I’m feeling sick, I’m feeling sad, I’m feeling maybe a little mad, but I’m hoping that everything will be okay for everyone, especially the people in my community, because everyone in my community has been really helpful and very nice, especially within Starbucks.”

For evacuation warnings and orders, road closures and shelters: fire.ca.gov/incidents

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Originally Published: January 22, 2025 at 11:38 AM PST