Thousands of firefighters have been battling wildfires across 45 square miles of densely populated Los Angeles County. The two largest fires, the Palisades Fire in Pacific Palisades and the Eaton Fire near Pasadena, remain active. One of the latest, the Hughes Fire in the Castaic area, has prompted evacuation orders for tens of thousands of people.

A fast-moving wildfire exploded to roughly 10,200 acres near the Los Angeles County community of Castaic Wednesday morning, prompting mandatory evacuation orders and road closures, authorities said.

Firefighters are responding to a brush fire in the Castaic area of Los Angeles County Wednesday morning, according to the Angeles National Forest.

Exhausted firefighters battling deadly infernos for weeks are now grappling with more wildfires scorching Los Angeles County – including the Hughes Fire, which has burned through more than 10,000 acres since it began less than 48 hours ago.

The Hughes fire seen from Magic Mountain has started north of Castaic and has exploded to more than 5,000 acres in under two hours on Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025, in Castaic, California. (Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times/TNS) (Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times/TNS)

Powerful winds and bone-dry conditions could pose a challenge to firefighters battling new wildfires in southern California on Thursday, including a blaze that swelled over the past day and forced tens of thousands of evacuations north of Los Angeles.

The Hughes fire, which broke out north of Santa Clarita earlier Wednesday, has scorched more than 5,000 acres, according to Cal Fire.

The Sepulveda fire was the latest blaze in a nerve-racking week as Southern California headed into a fourth consecutive day of red flag fire weather warnings.

The fire first broke out around 10:45 a.m. on Wednesday, rapidly spreading from 500 acres within its first hour to 3,400 acres less than 2 hours after.

Firefighters in Southern California are once again battling a wildfire, this time in Castaic in Los Angeles County, north of Los Angeles itself. Evacuation orders have been issued for the surrounding areas.