LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- A brush fire ignited Wednesday near Castaic Lake in north Los Angeles County amid windy and dry conditions.
The blaze, called the Hughes Fire, erupted around 10:30 a.m. and forced thousands of residents to evacuate.
Red-flag warnings for critical fire risk were extended through Friday morning across L.A. and Ventura counties.
Mandatory evacuations were issued Wednesday in the Castaic area due to the fast-spreading Hughes Fire.
CAL FIRE's map shows the evacuation zones.
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VNC Zone 2.
- Ridge Route Rd at Lake Hughes
- Ridge Route Rd at Templin Hwy
- Lake Hughes at Pine Cyn
- Dry Gulch at San Francisquito Cyn Rd
- I-5 NB at Parker Rd Off Ramp and I-5 NB at Lake Hughes Rd off ramp will be shut down.
Evacuation shelters
- Evacuation center: Valencia High School - 27801 Dickson Dr, Valencia, CA 91355
Interstate 5 between State Route 126 and Grapevine Road has reopened in both directions, Caltrans announced Wednesday evening.
That stretch of the 5 had been shut down due to the Hughes Fire.
Caltrans says the Lake Hughes Road and Parker Road off-ramps from the northbound I-5 remain closed.
Crews are gaining an upper hand on the Hughes Fire, which has not yet damaged or destroyed any structures, officials confirmed.
L.A. County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said approximately 4,000 firefighting personnel have been assigned to battle the blaze, which has charred more than 9,000 acres by 5 p.m. Wednesday.
Fortunately, no structures were destroyed or damaged by the fire. And the fire chief intends to keep it that way.
He said there are plans in place for crews to stay on the scene throughout the night to gain more perimeter control and to attack any hot spots that may erupt.
A red flag warning was extended Wednesday afternoon and is now in effect through Friday morning for most of Los Angeles and Ventura counties due to extremely low humidity and offshore wind gusts, according to the National Weather Service.
The windy conditions are expected to strengthen or expand Wednesday night or Thursday morning, with winds peaking Thursday. The winds will increase to 20 to 30 mph, with gusts up to 50 mph by Thursday. The winds are expected to gradually decrease Thursday night into Friday.
Humidity will be extremely low with minimums under 10% and poor overnight recovery.
"While the winds will gradually weaken and shrink in coverage Thursday night through Friday morning, pockets of gusty winds and widespread extremely dry conditions will maintain Red Flag Warning conditions through Friday morning," the weather service said in an alert.
Flames from the massive Hughes Fire were seen inching extremely close to a local water treatment facility on Wednesday.
AIR7 flying overhead captured video of flames directly along the border of the Earl Schmidt Filtration Plant, which is located along Lake Hughes Road in Castaic.
The plant is part of the mandatory evacuation zone.
