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Aerial Attack Helps Firefighters Stop Spread of Huge Blaze North of Los Angeles

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A hillside on fire, with fire trucks on the road.
Flames from the Hughes Fire race up a hillside in Castaic, a northwestern neighborhood of Los Angeles, on Jan. 22, 2025. The blaze exploded on Wednesday morning and had already charred 10,000 acres by the end of the day, forcing thousands to evacuate. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images)

Updated 4 p.m. Thursday

Evacuation orders were lifted Thursday for tens of thousands of people as firefighters with air support slowed the spread of a huge wildfire churning through rugged mountains north of Los Angeles where dangerous winds gained strength again.

The Hughes Fire broke out late Wednesday morning and, in less than a day, had charred nearly 10,000 acres of trees and brush near Castaic Lake, a popular recreation area about 40 miles from the devastating Eaton and Palisades fires that have been burning for more than two weeks.

There was no growth overnight, and crews were jumping on flareups to keep the flames within containment lines, fire spokesperson Jeremy Ruiz said Thursday morning.

“We had helicopters dropping water until around 3 a.m. That kept it in check,” he said.


Containment of the fire reached 24% as of Thursday afternoon. Nearly 54,000 residents in the Castaic area were still under evacuation warnings, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said Thursday. There were no reports of homes or other structures burned.

Meanwhile, two new fires were reported Thursday in the San Diego area. Evacuations were ordered after the Gilman Fire erupted in brush near densely populated neighborhoods north of downtown in La Jolla, not far from the UC San Diego School of Medicine campus. Southeast of downtown, the Border Fire was quickly spreading through a mountainous area of the Otay Mountain Wilderness.

And in Ventura County, a new fire briefly prompted the evacuation of California State University Channel Islands in Camarillo. Water-dropping helicopters made quick progress against the Laguna Fire that erupted in hills above the campus, where about 7,000 students are enrolled. The evacuation order was later downgraded to a warning.

Though the region was under a red flag warning for critical fire risk, winds were not as strong as they had been when the Palisades and Eaton fires broke out, allowing for firefighting aircraft to dump tens of thousands of gallons of fire retardant on the Hughes Fire.

Red flag warnings were extended through Friday morning in L.A. and Ventura counties.

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

Kayla Amara drove to Castaic’s Stonegate neighborhood to collect items from the home of a friend who had rushed to pick up her daughter at preschool. As Amara was packing the car, she learned the fire had exploded in size and decided to hose down the property.


“Other people are hosing down their houses, too. I hope there’s a house here to return to,” Amara said as police cars raced through the streets and flames engulfed trees on a hillside in the distance.

Amara, a nurse who lives in nearby Valencia, said she’s been on edge for weeks as major blazes devastated Southern California.

“It’s been stressful with those other fires, but now that this one is close to home, it’s just super stressful,” she said.

Closer to Los Angeles, residents in Sherman Oaks received an evacuation warning on Wednesday night after a brush fire broke out on the Sepulveda Pass near the I-405 Freeway. The blaze was first reported just after 11 p.m., but the Los Angeles Fire Department said Thursday that forward progress had been stopped at about 40 acres (16 hectares), and the evacuation warning was lifted. No structures were damaged and no injuries were reported, fire officials said, but firefighters remained at the scene.


The low humidity, bone-dry vegetation and strong winds came as firefighters continued battling the Palisades and Eaton fires. Officials remained concerned that those fires could break their containment lines as firefighters continued watching for hot spots. Containment of the Palisades Fire reached 72%, and the Eaton Fire was at 95%.

The Palisades and Eaton fires have killed at least 28 people and destroyed more than 14,000 structures since they broke out on Jan. 7.

more on the la fires

L.A. County Sheriff Robert Luna said Wednesday his department was still investigating 22 active missing person reports in both fire zones. All reported missing are adults, he said.

Ahead of the weekend, Los Angeles officials were preparing for potential rain even as some residents were allowed to return to the charred Pacific Palisades and Altadena areas. Gusty weather was expected to last through Thursday, and precipitation was possible starting Saturday, according to the weather service.

The California fires have overall caused at least $28 billion in insured damage and probably a little more in uninsured damage, according to Karen Clark and Company, a disaster modeling firm known for accurate post-catastrophe damage assessments.

On the heels of that assessment, California Republicans are pushing back against suggestions by President Donald Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson and others that federal disaster aid for victims of wildfires should come with strings attached.

The state Legislature on Thursday approved a more than $2.5 billion fire relief package, in part to help the Los Angeles area recover from the fires.

Trump plans to travel to the state to see the damage firsthand Friday, but it wasn’t clear whether he and Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom will meet during the visit.

Maps by Matthew Green/KQED

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