Firefighters battle brush fire in Sepulveda Pass along 405, Hughes Fire near Castaic Lake

KABC logo
Last updated: Thursday, January 23, 2025 12:16PM GMT
ABC7 Eyewitness News
Stream Southern California's News Leader and Original Shows 24/7

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- As fire danger continues in Southern California, firefighters battled two new brush fires - the Hughes Fire near Castaic Lake and the Sepulveda Fire in Bel Air, along the 405 Freeway in the Sepulveda Pass.

The Hughes Fire erupted around 10:30 a.m. Wednesday and forced thousands of residents to evacuate. The Sepulveda Fire started late Wednesday and prompted an evacuation warning.

Red-flag warnings for critical fire risk were extended through Friday morning across L.A. and Ventura counties.

KABC logo
Jan 23, 2025, 6:51 AM

Hughes Fire map shows evacuation zones in Castaic

Mandatory evacuations were issued Wednesday in the Castaic area due to the fast-spreading Hughes Fire.

CAL FIRE's map shows the evacuation zones.

Mandatory evacuation orders were issued for the following zones, according to CAL FIRE:

CAS-BISCAILUZ
CAS-BITTERCANYON
CAS-CAMBRIDGE
CAS-CASTAICLAKE
CAS-CHARLIECANYON
CAS-GOLDENSTATE
CAS-GREENHILL
CAS-HASLEY
CAS-HILLCREST
CAS-PARADISERANCH
CAS-RIDGE
CAS-ROMERO
CAS-SLOAN
LAC-E008
LAC-E029
LAC-FRANCISQUITO
SCL-KELLYJOHNSON
SCL-REYESADOBE
SCL-STERLING
SCL-TESORODELVALLE
VNC Zone 1.

Evacuation warnings were issued for the following zones:

CAS-INDUSTRY
CAS-LIVEOAK
CAS-OAKCANYON
CAS-VALVERDE
GOR-E004
GOR-HUNGRYVALLEY
LAC-E005
LAC-E009-B
LAC-E011-A
LAC-E011-B
LAC-E016
LAC-E018
LAC-E030
SCL-BLACKPINE
SCL-CALEX
SCL-DECORO
SCL-MOUNTAINVIEW
SCL-PACIFICCREST
SCL-RANCHOTESORO
SCL-REYESABODE
SCL-RIONORTE
SCL-WESTHILLS
SCL-RYE
VNC Zone 2.

Road closures

- 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: College of the Canyons East Gym at 26455 Rockwell Canyon Road, Santa Clarita, CA 91355

A map of the Hughes Fire shows the multiple evacuation zones near Castaic Lake north of the Santa Clarita area.
KABC logo
6:10 AM GMT

Hughes Fire grows to more than 10K acres, containment reaches 14%

The Hughes Fire near Castaic Lake has grown to about 10,176 acres and is 14% contained, according to the government website InciWeb.

2:52 AM GMT

Portion of 5 Freeway reopens after Hughes Fire forced shutdown

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.

KABC logo
1:36 AM GMT

Crews gaining upper hand on Hughes Fire, chief says

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.

1:08 AM GMT

Red flag warning extended to Friday morning

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.