AccuWeather California expert Ken Clark breaks down the conditions leading to the extreme growth of the Hughes Fire near Castaic, California.

More than a thousand structures have been destroyed and lives lost as wildfires sweep across parts of Los Angeles.

LA Wildfires

The Hughes Fire near Castaic, California, has rapidly expanded, prompting a significant number of evacuation orders. AccuWeather expert Ken Clark reported that over 5,000 acres have been affected by the fire, with evacuation orders issued for approximately 19,000 people and warnings for 15,000 more. The fire's rapid spread is attributed to strong Santa Ana winds, which are blowing at speeds of 25 to 45 miles per hour, coupled with extremely low humidity levels between 2% and 3%.

Interstate 5 (I-5), a major route out of Southern California into the Central Valley, has been closed due to the fire's impact. The blaze, initially located on the east side of Castaic Lake, is now approaching residential areas on the west side. The extension of evacuation orders into Ventura County reflects the gravity of the situation as the fire moves westward and potentially into densely populated areas.

Weather forecasts suggest a likelihood of rain over the weekend, which could assist in controlling the fire. However, the anticipated rainfall may pose additional risks by causing mudslides due to soil destabilization from the burned areas. The region could receive up to an inch of rain, which, while needed, presents a complex scenario in mitigating further environmental dangers.



Hughes Fire spreads rapidly, prompts thousands of evacuations

The Santa Ana winds have been howling at times this week, and the threat from wildfires is still a big problem keeping Californians on edge. Yeah, for the very latest, we turn to AccuWeather California expert, Ken Clark. Thanks for being with us, Ken. Sure. Yeah, Ken, we have big concerns as just extremely rapid fire spread has taken over over the past three or four hours near Castaic Lake. Can you tell us the latest on what you're aware of with that fire? The latest is that the acreage was over 5,000 acres. It's more than that now, looking at what's going on. Evacuation orders and warnings are out. About, I'm checking my figures, 19,000 people right now under evacuation orders. That means you have to get out. 15,000 people under evacuation warnings, and those numbers are likely to go up. And right now, the I-5, the whole I-5 corridor from near Castaic all the way northward to Grapevine Road is closed, totally closed. The major route out of Southern California into the Central Valley is now closed. Well, we're seeing on the right side of the screen a lot of the smoke from this fire. This is having big impacts here, and this is amid another Santa Ana wind event. Yeah, the winds right now in that area are blowing anywhere from 25 to 45 miles per hour, and those winds are likely to go up as we go through this evening and tonight into tomorrow. The humidity levels are as low as they get. They're in the single digits, as low as 2%, 3% in some areas. So this is really helping to fuel this fast-moving fire. We got very dry conditions. We've got the wind, and the winds are gonna come up even more. Right now, that fire has been mostly on the east side of Castaic Lake, but all this housing developments, all the businesses are on the west side of the lake, and that is where the fire is just starting to get into now. So the most serious problems are from here on out as the fire moves west and southwest. It looks like a lot of the population is at west, but also kind of the southwest corner, I guess, below the dam and so forth, it appears, and west of there. That's correct, and this is why they're so concerned about this, the winds, the rapid spread of this fire, and now that we're getting into more of a residential area, and they've extended the evacuation orders now into Ventura County as well, so this is the seriousness of the situation. If it gets west of the I-5 corridor, gets to the I-5 corridor, and west of there, there are a lot of houses and a lot of businesses in that area. And Ken, we do want to briefly look ahead to the weekend, because there are some changes on the way that are gonna help with the wildfire danger. There is a likelihood of rain this weekend, especially from late Saturday through the day Sunday, maybe lingering into Monday. We expect showers, maybe even a thunderstorm. Rainfall amounts will depend on where this load goes to, but if anything, the models have been inching upward in the rainfall amounts. It's good news and bad news. We're right now looking at maybe half-inch to maybe three-quarters of an inch of rain with local amounts to one inch. Unfortunately, when that falls on all this ash, all the bare ground that we already have, we're looking at maybe some more problems just because of that. So we're going from one thing to the other, but at least we need the rain, so we've got to take the rain where we can get it. It's gonna be much, much cooler as well. Snow will fall in the mountains. All right, Ken. Well, we will be closely watching that situation. We appreciate your insight, as always. We need the rain. Very concerned about places like Altadena when that rain picks back up, because, well, it's going to flow downhill, and you got populated areas in Pasadena down the hill there. We have a lot of ash just laying there, and that rainfall is going to move when the rain falls. It's not a good situation with rain either. Yeah, we need the rain, but it's a catch-22. Ken, we appreciate your insight. As always, we'll continue to follow this fire near Castaic Lake as well. Thanks again for joining us, Ken. You're welcome.

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