About 500 inmates have been evacuated from a correctional facility situated on the north side of Los Angeles after a new blaze erupted in the city, prompting tens of thousands to flee their homes.
Authorities evacuated the North County Correctional Facility (NCCF) as a precautionary measure, as the fast-spreading fire threatened to engulf the surrounding area. The inmates were relocated to a nearby facility, where they will be held until the situation is deemed safe.
The new threat, named the Hughes fire, ignited just before 11 a.m. near Castaic Lake, a reservoir about 40 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles, and had grown to more than 10,000 acres, burning mostly brush around the Castaic Lake State Recreation Area.
This disaster came barely two weeks after the Eaton fire was reported to have burned more than 14,000 acres and destroyed more than 9,000 structures.
According to Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna, the Hughes fire was fueled by wind and dry bushes, adding that about 31,000 people in the area are under a mandatory evacuation order, and another 23,000 have been warned they may have to flee.
“Winds in the area were blowing around 20 to 30mph (32 to 48km), but could pick up, which would fan the blaze and make it harder for aircrews to operate,” said Luna.
Meanwhile, Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said the fire continued to grow as the sun set, but he believed crews were making progress.
“The situation remains dynamic, and the fire remains a difficult fire to contain, although we are getting the upper hand,” he said.
While indicating that no homes or businesses have been damaged, Marrone explained how different this fire is compared to the Palisades and Eaton fires, which killed at least 28 people and decimated more than 10,000 homes and businesses earlier this month.
In contrast to the previous fires, he noted that the Hughes fire is being fought with a mix of lower winds, unlike the 70 to 90mph winds seen during the previous fires, and having many helicopters and planes able to fight the blaze from above.
“I think that we’ve all been on edge over the last 16 days, we were able to amass a lot of fire resources early on to change what this fire looks like,” he said.