New wildfire breaks out north of Los Angeles, forces evacuations

(Reuters) – A rapidly growing wildfire broke out some 50 miles (80 km) north of Los Angeles on Wednesday, burning 3,407 acres (5.3 square km) while two major fires burning in the metropolitan area for more than two weeks were getting under control, fire officials said.

The Hughes Fire in the Castaic Lake area of Los Angeles County forced evacuations with warnings of “immediate threat to life,” while much of Southern California remained under a red flag warning for extreme fire risk due to strong, dry winds.

The number of people under evacuation orders was not specified. About 18,600 people live in the community of Castaic.

Firefighters from Angeles National Forest were responding, the U.S. Forest Service said, announcing that the entire 700,000-acre (2,800-sq-km) park in the San Gabriel Mountains was closed to visitors.

As the new fire raged, the two deadly fires that have ravaged Los Angeles came under greater control, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) said.

The Eaton Fire that scorched 14,021 acres (57 sq km) east of Los Angeles was 91% contained, while the larger Palisades Fire, which has consumed 23,448 acres (95 sq km) on the west side of Los Angeles, stood at 68% contained.

Containment measures the percentage of a fire’s perimeter that firefighters have under control.

Since 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 Fire said. 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.

(Reporting by Daniel Trotta; Editing by Mary Milliken and Sandra Maler)