New wildfire near Los Angeles explodes to 8,000 acres, forcing people to flee By Reuters

By David Swanson and Daniel Trotta

CASTAIC, California (Reuters) – A new wildfire that broke out north of Los Angeles on Wednesday quickly spread to more than 8,000 hectares (32 square km), fueled by strong winds and dry, dry brush. forcing mandatory orders for more than 19,000 people.

The Hughes fire, about 50 miles (80 km) north of Los Angeles, also taxed firefighters in the area who managed to bring two large fires burning in a highly controlled urban area.

In just a few hours on Wednesday the new fire increased to more than half the size of Eaton (NYSE:) fire, one of two wildfires that have devastated the Los Angeles area.

Officials warned people in the Castaic Lake area of ​​Los Angeles County faced an “immediate threat to life,” while much of California remained under a red flag warning for extreme fire risk due to strong, dry winds.

About 19,000 people, nearly the entire population of the Castaic community, were under mandatory evacuation orders, the Los Angeles County Fire Department said. Another 16,000 were under evacuation warnings.

Los Angeles County, the state of California and the US Forest Service said their firefighters were responding. The Angeles National Forest said its 700,000-hectare (2,800-sq-km) park in the San Gabriel Mountains was closed to visitors.

As a result of the red flag warning, an additional 1,100 firefighters were dispatched to the Southern California area in anticipation of a fast-moving fire, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) said. .

Southern California has gone nine months without heavy rain, contributing to dangerous conditions, but more rain was forecast from Saturday into Monday, possibly giving firefighter- Fire help is very much needed.

Helicopters pumped water from the lake to come down on the fire while fixed-wing planes dropped fire extinguishers on the hillside, video showed on KTLA television. The flames reached the water’s edge.

Interstate 5, a major north-south highway in the western United States, was closed in the mountainous regions known as Grapevine due to poor visibility due to smoke, the California Highway Patrol said.

As new fires continue to burn, the two deadly fires that have ravaged Los Angeles have come under greater control, Cal Fire said.

The Eaton Fire, which burned 14,021 acres (57 square km) east of Los Angeles, was 91% contained, while the massive Palisades Fire, which burned 23,448 acres (95 square km) west of Los Angeles, was standing at 68% present. .

Containment measures the percentage of the fire area that firefighters have under control.

Since the two fires broke out on January 7, they have burned an area roughly the size of Washington, DC, killed 28 people and damaged or destroyed about 16,000 structures, Cal Fire said. At one point, 180,000 people were under evacuation orders, according to Los Angeles County officials.

AccuWeather’s private equity firm has estimated economic losses of more than $250 billion.

A series of small wildfires have been extinguished or largely contained in Southern California in the past two weeks.