- `The Hughes fire broke out Wednesday, the latest in a string of wildfires in Southern California.
- As of midnight local time, the fire covered 10,000 acres and was said to be 14% contained.
- Another small fire broke out overnight along a major freeway, but its forward progress was stopped.
Another wildfire broke out in Southern California on Wednesday, as the region was still reeling from the fires that burned through more than 37,000 acres earlier this month.
The Hughes fire started at about 10:50 a.m. local time Wednesday near Castaic, north of Los Angeles. It was first reported at about 50 acres but grew to more than 10,000 acres by midnight, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire. As of midnight, it was said to be 14% contained.
Cal Fire said a second, small blaze also broke out early Thursday just east of a major freeway, I-405, near Sepulveda Pass.
Named the Sepulveda fire, as of about 2 a.m. local time it covered 20 acres, Cal Fire said, but with forward progress stopped. It was said to be 0% contained.
An evacuation warning for the area — which contained a $30 million property owned by Rupert Murdoch, per the Los Angeles Times — has since been lifted.
The causes of both fires remain unknown.
Evacuation orders were issued for areas near the Hughes fire.
Officials said at a press conference that more than 31,000 people were under evacuation orders, while another 23,000 were under evacuation warnings.
The vital I-5 freeway was also temporarily closed as a result of the Hughes fire, and some offramps in the area remained closed Wednesday evening.
Daniel Swain, a UCLA climate scientist, said in a livestream that while some rain was expected in the area later in the week, winds continued to challenge the firefighting efforts in the dry, brushy area and threatened to push the flames west into Ventura County.
"This is not a good place to have a fire under northeast winds, because there is an almost contiguous, very dense fuel bed all in this region," Swain said, according to the Times.
Earlier this month, the Palisades and Eaton fires tore through the Pacific Palisades and Altadena, killing at least 27 people and destroying thousands of homes and other structures.
This story is developing. Check back for updates.
