By David Swanson and Daniel Trotta
CASTAIC, Calif. (Reuters) – A new wildfire that broke out north of Los Angeles on Wednesday quickly spread to more than 8,000 hectares (32 square kilometers), fueled by high winds and brush, forcing the mandatory evacuation of more than 19,000 people.
The Hughes fire about 50 miles (80 km) north of Los Angeles added to the strain on firefighters in the region who managed to bring two large fires burning in the metropolitan area largely under control.
In just a few hours on Wednesday, the new fire grew to more than half its size Eaton (NYSE:) Fire, one of two monster fires that ravaged the Los Angeles area.
Officials warned people in the Castaic Lake area of Los Angeles County faced an “imminent threat to life,” while much of Southern California remained under a red flag warning for extreme fire danger from strong, dry winds.
About 19,000 people, roughly equal to the total population of the community of Castaic, were under mandatory evacuation, the Los Angeles County Fire Department said. Another 16,000 were under an evacuation alert.
Los Angeles County, the state of California and the US Forest Service said their firefighters were responding. The Angeles National Forest said the entire 700,000-hectare (2,800-square-kilometer) park in the San Gabriel Mountains was closed to visitors.
As a result of the red flag warning, about 1,100 firefighters have been deployed around Southern California in anticipation of the fast-moving fires, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) said.
Southern California has been without significant rain for nine months, contributing to dangerous conditions, but rain is in the forecast for Saturday through Monday, which could provide much-needed relief to firefighters.
Helicopters pumped water from the lake to dump on the fire, while fixed-wing planes dropped fire retardant on the hills, video on KTLA television showed. The flames spread to the water’s edge.
Interstate 5, a major north-south highway in the western United States, was closed in areas of the mountain pass known as Grapevine because of poor visibility due to smoke, the California state highway said.
As the new blaze raged, the two deadly wildfires that ravaged Los Angeles came under greater control, Cal Fire said.
The Eaton Fire, which has burned 14,021 acres (57 square kilometers) east of Los Angeles, is 91% contained, while the larger Palisades Fire, which has consumed 23,448 acres (95 square kilometers) on the west side of Los Angeles, is 68% contained. .
Containment measures the percentage of fire extent that firefighters have under control.
Since the two fires broke out on Jan. 7, they have burned an area nearly the size of Washington, D.C., killed 28 people and damaged or destroyed nearly 16,000 structures, Cal Fire said. At one point, 180,000 people were under evacuation orders, according to Los Angeles County officials.
Private forecaster AccuWeather predicts damage and economic losses at more than $250 billion.
A number of smaller wildfires have been extinguished or largely contained in Southern California over the past two weeks.
