By Hannah Nightingale – The Postmillennial
As Los Angeles-area firefighters continue to battle blazes that have been burning for weeks, a new fire has started burning in the area of Castaic Lake, around 40 miles north of downtown Los Angeles.
The Angeles National Forest announced at 1:47 pm Eastern that firefighters were responding to a brush fire located off Lake Hughes Rd. According to ABC 7, that fire quickly grew to over 1,000 acres around an hour after being reported. The fire has been dubbed the Hughes fire. In the second hour, the fire grew to over 3,400 acres in size.
Evacuation orders were first issued for a rural area of Castaic Lake, but quickly expanded to more populated areas around Interstate 5. Some areas of Santa Clarita are under evacuation warnings.
The National Weather Service warned of “critical fire condition” in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties late Tuesday night, warning of wind gusts up to 65 mph and low humidity. A red flag warning remains in effect through Thursday.
This comes as the Palisades and Eaton fires, which began on January 7, are still burning, with the former being 68 percent contained as of Wednesday afternoon and the latter being 91 percent contained.