INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
A new wildfire that broke out north of Los Angeles on Wednesday rapidly spread to more than 8,000 acres (32 square km), fueled by strong
winds and dry brush, forcing mandatory evacuation orders for more than 19,000 people.The Hughes fire about 50 miles (80 km) north of Los
Angeles further taxed firefighters in the region who have managed to bring two major fires burning in the metropolitan area largely under
control.In just a few hours on Wednesday the new fire grew to more than half the size of the Eaton Fire, one of the two monster
conflagrations that have ravaged the Los Angeles area.Officials warned people in the Castaic Lake area of Los Angeles County that they faced
winds.Some 19,000 people, a number roughly equal to the entire population of the community of Castaic, were under mandatory evacuation
orders, the Los Angeles County Fire Department said
Another 16,000 were under evacuation warnings.Los Angeles County, the state of California and the U.S
Forest Service said their firefighters were responding
The Angeles National Forest said its entire 700,000-acre (2,800-sq-km) park in the San Gabriel Mountains was closed to visitors.As a result
of the red-flag warning, some 1,100 firefighters were deployed around Southern California in anticipation of fast-moving fires, the
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) said.Southern California has gone without significant rain for nine months,
contributing to hazardous conditions, but some rain was forecast from Saturday through Monday, possibly giving firefighters much-needed
relief.Helicopters scooped water out of a lake to drop on the fire while fixed-wing aircraft dropped fire retardant on the hills, video on
areas known as the Grapevine due to poor visibility from the smoke, the California Highway Patrol said.While the new fire raged, the two
deadly fires that have ravaged Los Angeles came under greater control, Cal Fire said.The Eaton Fire that scorched 14,021 acres (57 square
km) east of Los Angeles was 91% contained, while the larger Palisades Fire, which has consumed 23,448 acres (95 square km) on the west side
the two fires broke out on Jan
7, they have burned an area nearly the size of Washington, D.C., killed 28 people and damaged or destroyed nearly 16,000 structures, Cal
At one point, 180,000 people were under evacuation orders, according to Los Angeles County officials.Private forecaster AccuWeather projects
damage and economic losses at more than $250 billion.A series of smaller wildfires has been extinguished or brought largely under control in
Southern California the past two weeks.Source: Reuters--Agencies
