Nearly 20,000 residents have been forced to evacuate after a fierce new fire in Los Angeles exploded tenfold in two hours – with one expert warning it could “go nuclear”.
The Hughes Fire has grown from 500 to more than 5,000 acres after breaking out just before 11 a.m. Wednesday near Castaic Lake, California.
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Flames streaked across parched hillsides and huge plumes of choking smoke billowed into the air, prompting a warning of “immediate threat to life.”
Officials told KTLA that about 19,000 people had been ordered to evacuate by 2:30 p.m., with thousands more affected by evacuation warnings.
The blaze is devastating an area already plagued by wildfires, with much of Southern California remaining under a red flag warning for the risk of a severe outbreak.
This furnace is located about 40 miles from the catastrophic Eaton and Palisades fires, which continue to burn for a third week.
Crew members battled flames from the ground and sky, in a desperate attempt to control the flames that were sweeping the ground at the size of 23 football fields every minute.
“This one is going to go nuclear. It's big,” wildfire expert Jacob Wigler told the New York Post, regarding the Hughes fire.
“You know what the fuel can do in that area right now, and what the winds do is going to have a big impact on that,” he added.
Weigeler said he had been in contact with colleagues near the scene and that initial information from the fire services indicated the possibility of a massive disaster.
Kayla Amara drove to the Stonegate neighborhood in Castaic to collect items from the home of a friend who was rushing to pick up her daughter from preschool.
While packing her belongings into the car, Kayla learned that the fire had exploded in size and decided to hose down the property.
“Other people are cleaning their homes too,” she said. “I hope there is a home here for me to return to,” the policeman said. Cars I raced through the streets and caught fire in the trees on a distant hill.
Kayla, a nurse who lives in nearby Valencia, said she had been on edge for weeks as major fires devastated Southern California.
“It was stressful with those other fires, but now that this one is close to home, it's very stressful,” she said.
The cause of the fire is not clear, but the matter is being investigated.
“We will see another round of critical fire conditions across Southern California,” said Todd Hall, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
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“At this point, it feels like a broken record.”
The Eaton Fire, which has scorched 14,021 acres east of Los Angeles, was 91 percent contained on Wednesday, while the larger Palisades Fire, which has scorched 23,448 acres on Los Angeles' west side, was 68 percent contained.
The US Forest Service confirmed that firefighters from the Angeles National Forest were responding, announcing that the 700,000-acre park in the San Gabriel Mountains was completely closed to visitors.
The California Highway Patrol said at least three schools were closed as a precaution.
The fire burned next to Castaic Lake, a popular recreation area and 13,000-acre reservoir that supplies water to the Los Angeles area.
Heavy traffic clogged surrounding roads on Wednesday as people raced to escape in time.
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The state Department of Transportation announced that all lanes on I-5 are closed between Grapevine Road and State Route 126.
Authorities were on the ground trying to keep people calm as fires tore through new territory and evacuations began.
Further south, Los Angeles officials braced for the possibility of rain, as some residents were allowed to return to the charred areas of Pacific Palisades and Altadena.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass issued an executive order to guide As part of clean-up efforts in burned areas and reducing the damage of pollutants associated with fires.
Crews were ordered to remove vegetation, shore up hillside structures and reinforce roads.
Los Angeles County supervisors also approved an emergency proposal to install flood control infrastructure in fire-affected areas.
Cops have arrested several suspected “arsonists” trying to start new fires in the Los Angeles area since the fires initially broke out.
One of them admitted that he started a fierce fire because he “liked the smell of burning leaves,” according to the city's police chief.
He was arrested during a citizen's arrest, but he wasn't the only person police had to deal with as the city continued to burn, Chief Jim McDonnell said during a news conference last week.
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