Thursday, January 23, 2025 Firefighters fought to maintain the upper hand on a huge and rapidly moving wildfire that swept through rugged mountains north of Los Angeles and resulted in more than 50,000 people being put under evacuation orders or warnings. The Hughes Fire broke out late Wednesday morning and in less than a day had charred nearly 16 sq miles of trees and brush near Lake Castaic, a popular recreation area about 40 miles from the devastating Eaton and Palisades fires that are burning for a third week. Though the region was under a red flag warning for critical fire risk, winds were not as fast as they had been when those fires broke out, allowing for firefighting aircraft to dump tens of thousands of gallons of fire retardant on the latest blaze.
By Wednesday night, about 14% of the Hughes Fire had been contained. “The situation that we’re in today is very different from the situation we were in 16 days ago,” Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said Wednesday evening. Red flag warnings were extended through 10 a.
m. Friday in LA and Ventura counties. Officials remained concerned that the Palisades and Eaton fires could break their containment lines as firefighters continue watching for hot spots.
An evacuation warning was issued for Sherman Oaks where there was an approximately 10 acres brush fire burning on the Sepulveda Pass near the I-405 Freeway. The blaze was first reported just after 11 p.m.
Wednesday. More than 31,000 people have been ordere.
