If you can believe it, the catastrophic Palisades fire that ignited on January 7 and destroyed huge swaths of the beautiful Pacific Palisades area, leaving 11 dead, is still burning. It has burned over 23,400 acres, and according to the excellent app Watch Duty, it’s 70 percent contained.
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Meanwhile, the Eaton fire that torched Altadena and burned 14,021 acres, taking the lives of 17 people, is also still going, though it’s now listed at 95 percent contained.
Are we out of the woods yet? Unfortunately, no, as yet another huge fire started Wednesday and is currently raging around Castaic Lake to the Northwest of downtown Los Angeles. It grew extraordinarily quickly, and it is now at 9,457 acres with only five percent containment. The crucial Interstate 5 had to be closed in both directions for a period, but it’s currently open again.
As with the other fires, the scenes are absolutely apocalyptic:
A lot of homes in the path of the Hughes Fire.
You can thank Gavin Newsom’s buddies over at the California Air Resources Board (CARB) for supplying the acre upon acre of unmanaged dry brush as fuel. pic.twitter.com/0bUg4xbPzO
— Kevin Dalton (@TheKevinDalton) January 22, 2025
Luckily, no structures have been burned so far, nor injuries reported.
Location for reference included. #hughesfire pic.twitter.com/c1Y5MsDs0o
— FirePhotoGirl (@FirePhotoGirl) January 23, 2025
Rain is forecast for this weekend, and it can’t come soon enough, although that brings a possible new danger to the equation—mudslides. Meanwhile, the wind continues to howl, making the efforts of the firefighters that much more difficult.
California’s leaders like Gov. Gavin Newsom, Fire Chief Kristin Crowley, and LA Mayor Karen Bass are taking heavy criticism for their policies, which, over the years, many believe significantly contributed to the unprecedented disaster. As I write tonight from the City of Angels, I can tell you that it’s like living through a movie—the sky is often choked with smoke and sometimes turns orange, the air quality is terrible, and even though my family is lucky enough not to have been close to the flames so far, we know many friends who have lost their houses and are now scrambling to find places to stay.
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As I mentioned, this one is moving quickly:
A terrifying fast-moving new wildfire burning out of control north of Los Angeles quickly torched nearly 10,000 acres Wednesday, with more than 30,000 people ordered to evacuate just weeks after dangerous winds caused deadly infernos to erupt across Southern California.
The blaze, called the Hughes Fire, broke out before 11 a.m. just north of the town of Castaic — about 40 miles from the devastating Eaton and Palisades fires — as a 50-acre fire and exploded to about 9,400 acres by early evening, according to Los Angeles Fire Chief Anthony Marrone.
About 31,000 people were ordered to evacuate and another 23,000 people are in areas where evacuation warnings were issued, according to the LA County Sheriff’s Department.
Many are predicting these epic disasters spell the political end for the elegantly coiffed governor.
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Hopefully, the wind will die down, and firefighters can get this latest conflagration under control. It’s been a long couple of weeks for all those affected by these seemingly endless fires, and we pray for those who lost their homes, or worse, their lives.
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Hughes Fire in Southern California is now roughly 10k acres and 30k people have been ordered to evacuate.
California needs a miracle and it’s not coming from Gavin Newsom.
Pray for them.
— Paul A. Szypula 🇺🇸 (@Bubblebathgirl) January 23, 2025
