Firefighters fight to keep control of new wildfire north of Los Angeles | California wildfires

Firefighters battled to stay on top of a massive, fast-moving wildfire that swept through the rugged mountains north of Los Angeles and left more than 50,000 people under evacuation orders or warnings.

The Hughes Fire broke out late Wednesday morning and in less than a day charred nearly 16 square miles (41 square km) of trees and brush near Castaic Lake, a popular recreation area about 40 miles (64 km) from the devastating Eaton and Palisades fires. which have been burning for a third week.

Even though the area was under a red flag for critical fire danger, the winds were not as fast as they were when these fires broke out, allowing firefighting aircraft to fires dumping tens of thousands of gallons of fire retardant on the latest blaze. As of Wednesday evening, about 14 percent of the Hughes Fire was contained.

Late Wednesday, a new 40-acre brush fire, dubbed the Sepulveda Fire, broke out near Interstate 405 — the nation’s busiest highway — as well as the Getty Museum and the Bel- Air. Thursday morning, firefighters said they had it under control.

“The situation we find ourselves in today is very different than the situation we found ourselves in 16 days ago,” Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said Wednesday evening.

Red flag warnings were extended until 10 a.m. Friday in Los Angeles and Ventura counties. Officials remain concerned that the Palisades and Eaton fires could breach their containment lines as firefighters continue to monitor hot spots.

An evacuation warning was issued for Sherman Oaks, where a roughly 10-acre (4-hectare) brush fire was burning on Sepulveda Pass near I-405. The fire was first reported Wednesday shortly after 11 p.m.

More than 31,000 people have been ordered to evacuate following the Hughes Fire, and another 23,000 are under evacuation warnings, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said. No homes or other structures were burned.

Parts of Interstate 5 near the Hughes Fire that had been closed reopened Wednesday evening.

A 48 km stretch of the main north-south artery was closed to emergency vehicles, in order to move equipment and avoid accidents due to the smoke spreading there. Crews on the ground and aboard water planes attempted to prevent the wind-driven fire from moving across the highway and toward Castaic.

Marrone said that because the winds were not as strong as two weeks ago, plane crews were able to drop fire retardant on the south side of the fire, where the flames were moving, he said. -he declared. More than 4,000 firefighters were mobilized to fight the fire, he said.

Winds in the area were gusting to 42 mph (67 km/h) in the afternoon. By Wednesday evening, they had reached 65 mph in some mountain pockets, according to National Weather Service meteorologist David Roth.

Kayla Amara drove to the Stonegate neighborhood of Castaic to collect items from a friend who had rushed to pick up her daughter from preschool. As Amara prepared the car, she learned that the fire had grown and decided to hose down the property.

“Other people also water their houses. I hope there’s a house here to go back to,” Amara said as police cars raced through the streets and flames engulfed the hillside trees in the distance.

Amara, a nurse who lives in nearby Valencia, said she has been nervous for weeks as massive fires devastated Southern California.

“These other fires have been stressful, but now that this one is close to home, it’s just extremely stressful,” she said.

To the south, authorities in Los Angeles began preparing for possible rain, although some residents were allowed to return to charred areas of Pacific Palisades and Altadena. Gusty winds are expected to last until Thursday and precipitation would be possible from Saturday, according to the weather service.

Associated Press contributed to this report