Tens of thousands must be evacuated as a new fire rages north of LA

Greg Wolf, 64, huddled with his family in his Castaic home despite a mandatory evacuation order. It was raining ash and there were clouds of smoke in the sky, but he said they stayed put because the wind appeared to have died down and the fire appeared to be to the south of them.

Mr. Wolf said fire warnings don’t usually bother him. But this time he was nervous.

“What happened in Altadena and the power of the wind in the Palisades – I’ve never seen anything like that in California,” he said.

Fueled by strong winds, the Eaton and Palisades fires spread quickly, causing widespread devastation in Altadena and Pasadena, northeast of Los Angeles, and in Pacific Palisades and Malibu to the west. The two fires are among the most devastating fires in California history.

The Hughes Fire appeared to be growing at a similarly shocking rate, burning more than 8,000 acres by 4 p.m., barely four hours after it started.

Most of the brush had burned in and around Castaic Lake State Recreation Area, but evacuation orders were issued for much of the area. Evacuation zones include Northlake Hills Elementary School, Castaic Elementary School and Castaic Middle School. Other schools closed out of caution even though they were not under evacuation orders.

Manny Trujillo watched the fire spread in a dry riverbed across from his home in Castaic. There have been fires nearby before, he said, but nothing like this. As the flames grew closer, he couldn’t decide whether to leave or not.

“I don’t want to panic,” he said. “But what are you taking?”

The fire initially threatened Lake Hills Community Church overlooking Castaic Lake, but David Cummings, the senior pastor, said the building appeared to be untouched. He had been watching from the church’s remote surveillance cameras and spotted firefighters in the area before the power went out.

About half of the church’s 140 parishioners live in Castaic.

“We were able to evacuate them to homes in Santa Clarita, but now some of those homes are being evacuated, so we’re evacuating them again,” Cummings said.

The fire has reached the northern part of Santa Clarita, said Mayor Bill Miranda. He said he was unaware of any damaged homes in the city, which lies south of the lake and is home to about 225,000 people.

Some of its residents took no chances.

People living on the Camino Azar cul-de-sac in Santa Clarita’s new community of Tesoro Highlands evacuated Wednesday afternoon after exhausted hours of watching the fire grow and checking among themselves.

“It’s moving very fast,” said Immanuel Chiang, 57, as thick clouds of smoke rose northwest of his mountain community. “I just came and started packing.”

Like his neighbors, Mr. Chiang only moved into the new building three months ago.

Mr. Miranda said he was confident in Santa Clarita’s preparations, with evacuation centers set up, including for animals, and a command center near Castaic Lake. Fires have occurred in the area before: In 2019, the Tick Fire burned nearly 5,000 acres.

“We have experience with fires, which is good,” he said. “But the fact that we have so many fires is not good.”

Mr Miranda urged people to be prepared, pointing out that winds were expected to increase this evening and could change quickly.

On Wednesday evening, some Castaic evacuees gathered at Ralph’s Mall. Among them were Ted and Jennie Hartman, who headed to neighboring Valencia to have dinner with their 7-year-old son.

Around noon, their son’s elementary school informed them that all children had to be picked up. At 4 p.m., the family heard officials using megaphones to say they had to evacuate.

“I think they were worried about the embers,” said Mr. Hartman, 57, a state worker who has lived in Castaic since 1986 in a neighborhood of mostly two-story homes.

As they went to dinner, the Hartmans said they didn’t know where they were going to sleep tonight.