Hughes Fire in LA County explodes near Castaic, with tens of thousands urged to evacuate
By Marissa Wenzke
CASTIAC, Calif. (KCAL/KCBS) -- With high winds driving the flames, a fast-moving wildfire exploded to roughly 10,200 acres near the Los Angeles County community of Castaic Wednesday — prompting mandatory evacuation orders for tens of thousands of people.
The Hughes Fire broke out around 10:45 a.m. near Castaic Lake, off Lake Hughes Road just north of Castaic Reservoir Road, before growing to 500 acres within an hour, authorities said. By 12:30 p.m., less than two hours after first being reported, it had ripped through a total of 3,407 acres, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire.
It reached 10,176 acres by the time containment reached 14%, according to the LA County Fire Department.
"While we are seeing critical fire conditions and expecting them until tomorrow, these are not the same conditions that we saw just two weeks ago," said State Fire Marshal Chief Daniel Berlant. "The weather is definitely continuing to be a challenge we out firefighters are making good progress with all of the surged resources."
Firefighters say that they have not discovered any burned structures and that while the weather conditions were driving the blaze, they were not as severe as the wildfires from earlier this month. However, Angeles National Forest Chief Robert Garcia stressed that the conditions were still critical.
"The first responders are doing great work to contain this fire. Certainly, we are not out of the woods yet," Cal Fire Chief Joe Tyler said.
LA County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said roughly 4,000 personnel were sent to Castaic to battle the wildfire.
The unincorporated community of Castaic is located in northwest Los Angeles County, about 15 miles northwest of Santa Clarita and just alongside the Angeles National Forest. The Santa Clarita Valley is home to Six Flags Magic Mountain, and a huge plume of smoke from the Hughes Fire was visible in the skyline near the amusement park.

While the wildfire started in Los Angeles County, it began threatening some communities just west of Castaic in neighboring Ventura County. An evacuation order and some warnings were issued there later in the afternoon.
Later Wednesday, firefighters told residents that all evacuation orders in Ventura County would remain in place at least overnight into Thursday morning.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said 31,000 people were under mandatory evacuation orders and 23,000 more under warnings.
Roughly 4,500 inmates from Pitchess Detention Center were evacuated during the fire.
"It's evolving it's gonna change. We're ready for just about anything," Luna said during a press conference Wednesday afternoon.
Authorities closed the I-5 Freeway earlier in the day to allow personnel to swiftly respond to the fire. Luna said they plan to reopen the major thoroughfare Wednesday night.
"We needed to have better ingress and regress for emergency vehicles coming through the 5 Freeway corridor," Luna said. "We want to give the 5 back to our community."
All lanes were reopened by 6:30 p.m.
Mandatory evacuations were expanded as the wildfire grew to over 5,000 acres in just around two hours, sending people fleeing from the area as heavy traffic built up along some roads. Authorities were trying to keep people calm as the situation quickly unfolded — a changing series of new updates and evacuations being announced just as they were earlier this month.
On Jan. 7, two major wildfires sparked on opposite sides of Los Angeles County, killing at least 28 people as they tore through tens of thousands of acres and burned down entire communities, including homes, schools, churches, grocery stores and other buildings throughout the especially hard-hit areas of Altadena and Pacific Palisades.
"We're just asking people to, I know it's hard to say, but stay calm and just listen to first responders," California Highway Patrol Officer Isabel Diaz said Wednesday afternoon, as the Hughes Fire continued to spread. "It's a very active and chaotic scene at the moment, and we're just all trying our best to get everyone out safely."
When the flames first broke out, that area of Los Angeles County — including the Santa Clarita Valley — was under a red flag warning, with extremely low humidity and Santa Ana winds increasing the risks of wildfires starting and quickly growing.
"It does have a high potential for spread because we are looking at 32-mph winds as we speak," LA County Fire Department Captain Sheila Kelliher Berkoh said. "Those winds are supposed to pick up as the afternoon progresses into the evening."
Gov. Gavin Newsom said state resources were being sent down to Southern California to help in the battle against the wildfire, with federal personnel from the Angeles National Forest also involved in the firefighting efforts.
"We will continue to monitor the situation closely and provide the federal government with whatever it needs to extinguish this fire," Newsom wrote in a post to X.
With an especially dry winter in Southern California, experts have said vegetation in the region is particularly dry, and therefore, even more flammable than usual. In California, wildfires during the fall and winter months can be especially destructive due to shrubbery being dried out in the summer — which can spark and fuel the fires — along with the seasonal dry Santa Ana winds that can fan flames forward. That combination can lead to quickly growing blazes that are difficult to stop.
Until the region experiences significant rainfall, Berlant said firefighters will remain ready to battle fires.
"This time of year is especially dangerous," said Fred Fielding, spokesman for the LA County Fire Department. "It's been almost 300 days since we've had any significant rainfall."
Currently, Angeles National Forest — where the Hughes Fire started — is closed to the general public to protect natural resources and public safety. The closure runs from Jan. 19 through Friday, Jan. 24.
Last summer, the Post Fire burned more than 15,000 acres in an area of Los Angeles and Ventura counties just north of the Hughes Fire.
Evacuation orders and warnings
A map showing where evacuation zones are located — and what areas are currently facing mandatory evacuation orders or warnings — can be found here. More information on the latest updates and resources for evacuees can be found here.
A temporary evacuation center has been set up at Valencia High School, which is located at 27801 Dickson Dr. Valencia, Calif. 91355. Meanwhile, a shelter for large animals being evacuated is at Lancaster Animal Care Center and Pierce College while shelters for small animals have been set up at the Palmdale, Agoura and Lancaster Animal Care Centers.
Los Angeles County officials established another temporary evacuation center at Hart High School at 24825 Newhall Ave, Santa Clarita, CA 91321.
According to Cal Fire, an evacuation shelter has also been established at College of the Canyons East Gym at 26455 Rockwell Canyon Road, Santa Clarita, CA 91355.
Residents of LA County can sign up for emergency alerts here. The city of Santa Clarita told residents to visit the city's website here for the latest updates to ongoing evacuation orders and other information related to the Hughes Fire.
Officials announced the initial round of mandatory evacuation orders by noon and added more areas as the fire continued to burn throughout the afternoon.
Road closures
All lanes of the I-5 Freeway through the Grapevine were being shut down due to the fire, according to the California Highway Patrol. The closures are in place at SR-126 for northbound traffic and at Grapevine Road for southbound traffic.
By 6 p.m., all lanes of I-5 were reopened by CHP, allowing traffic to once again flow through the area.
Earlier, two off-ramps along the I-5 — at Parker Road and Lake Hughes Road — were shut down. CHP reported the I-5 was being affected by heavy smoke stemming from the Hughes Fire so motorists were told to use caution when driving.
Below is a list of closures current as of 12 p.m. PST on Wednesday, Jan. 22.
School evacuations and closures
All schools within the Castaic Union School District are being closed Thursday, Jan. 23 after being evacuated Wednesday in the hours after the Hughes Fire started. Parents and guardians were being told to pick up their children from the campuses, or in some cases, from other places where the students were taken as their schools evacuated.
Northlake Hills Elementary in Castaic was evacuated to the Aquatic Center and Castaic Sports Complex in Castaic, which are both located in the 31000 block of Castaic Road. Meanwhile, Castaic Middle School and Castaic Elementary School were both evacuated to the parking lot of a Ralph's grocery store located at Hasley Canyon.
"Parents need to respond there," California Highway Patrol officials wrote in a post to X at 12:53 p.m. PST.
Later Wednesday, the Castaic Union School District released a message to students' families saying more updates — on whether schools will continue closing later in the week — would be given at 11 a.m. and at 3 p.m. on Thursday.
- Ridge Route Road at Lake Hughes
- Ridge Route Road at Templin Highway
- Lake Hughes at Pine Canyon
- Dry Gulch at San Francisquito Canyon Road
Check back for updates to this developing story.