New area of Los Angeles wildfires put another 30,000 under evacuation orders

Firefighters fought to maintain the upper hand on a huge and rapidly moving wildfire that swept through rugged mountains north of Los Angeles and resulted in more than 50,000 people being put under evacuation orders or warnings.

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 were no reports of homes or other structures burned so far in the Hughes fire.

Though the region was under a red flag warning for critical fire risk, 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. The Palisades and Eaton fires have killed at least 28 people and destroyed more than 14,000 structures since they broke out Jan. 7.

The California fires have caused at least $28 billion in insured damage and probably a little more in uninsured damage, calculated Karen Clark and Company, a disaster modeling firm known for accurate post-catastrophe damage assessments.

More than 31,000 people have been ordered to evacuate from the Hughes Fire, and another 23,000 are under evacuation warnings, LA County Sheriff Robert Luna said.