Firefighters battle to maintain the upper hand on a huge fire north of Los Angeles
LOS ANGELES — Evacuation orders were lifted Thursday for tens of thousands of people as firefighters with air support slowed the spread of a huge wildfire churning through rugged mountains north of Los Angeles where dangerous winds gained strength again.
The Hughes Fire broke out late Wednesday morning and in less than a day had charred nearly 16 square miles of trees and brush near Castaic Lake, a popular recreation area about 40 miles from the devastating Eaton and Palisades fires that are burning for a third week.
There was no growth overnight and crews were jumping on flareups to keep the flames within containment lines, fire spokesperson Jeremy Ruiz said Thursday morning.
“We had helicopters dropping water until around 3 a.m. That kept it in check,” he said.
The fire remained at 14% containment. Nearly 54,000 residents in the Castaic area were still under evacuation warnings, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said Thursday. There were no reports of homes or other structures burned.
Meanwhile, about 50 miles to the southwest in Ventura County, a new fire Thursday briefly prompted the evacuation of California State University Channel Islands in Camarillo. Water-dropping helicopters made quick progress against the Laguna Fire that erupted in hills above the campus, where about 7,000 students are enrolled. The evacuation order was later downgraded to a warning.
Though the region was under a red flag warning for critical fire risk through today, winds were not as strong as they had been when the Palisades and Eaton fires broke out, allowing for firefighting aircraft to dump tens of thousands of gallons of fire retardant.
Parts of Interstate 5 near the Hughes Fire, which had been closed, reopened Wednesday evening.
In another development, President Donald Trump threatened to withhold federal aid from California as it works to recover from the devastating wildfires, recycling several baseless claims and attacks against California’s Democratic leaders during his first sit-down interview since his inauguration, the Washington Post reported.
“I don’t think we should give California anything until they let water flow down,” he told Sean Hannity during a Fox News interview that aired Wednesday night.
Trump was repeating a false claim he has repeatedly made that California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) and other public officials have refused to allow water from the northern part of the state to flow down into the Los Angeles area.
Withholding aid, or making it conditional, would be a significant change in standard practice for how the government responds to natural disasters. Recent hurricane funding for mostly GOP-led states passed Congress without conditions.
Los Angeles does not get its water from the Northern California systems Trump described, and water experts have repeatedly explained that the scale and severity of the Southern California fires was not caused by empty reservoirs or a lack of water flowing from Northern California.
Closer to Los Angeles, residents in the Sherman Oaks area received an evacuation warning Wednesday night after a brush fire broke out on the Sepulveda Pass near Interstate 405. Forward progress was stopped within hours and the warning was lifted.
The low humidity, bone-dry vegetation and strong winds came as firefighters continued battling the devastating Palisades and Eaton fires. Officials remained concerned that those fires could break their containment lines as firefighters continue watching for hot spots. Containment of the Palisades Fire reached 72%, and the Eaton Fire was at 95%.
Those two fires have killed at least 28 people and destroyed more than 14,000 structures since they broke out Jan. 7.
Ahead of the weekend, Los Angeles officials were shoring up hillsides and installing barriers to prepare for potential rain that could cause debris flows, even as some residents were allowed to return to the charred Pacific Palisades and Altadena areas. Precipitation was possible starting Saturday, according to the National Weather Service.
The California fires have overall caused at least $28 billion in insured damage and probably a little more in uninsured damage, according to Karen Clark and Company, a disaster modeling firm known for accurate post-catastrophe damage assessments.
On the heels of that assessment, California Republicans are pushing back against suggestions by President Donald Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson and others that federal disaster aid for victims of wildfires should come with strings attached.
The state Legislature on Thursday approved a more than $2.5 billion fire relief package, in part to help the Los Angeles area recover from the fires.
Trump plans to travel to the state to see the damage firsthand Friday, but it wasn’t clear whether he and Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom will meet during the visit.
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• The Washington Post contributed.