Huge Wildfire Erupts North of Los Angeles

Evacuations were ordered on Wednesday for remote communities near a huge and fast-moving wildfire in mountains north of Los Angeles. The Hughes Fire grew to more than 5,000 acres in two hours and is 0% contained, CNN reports.

• The fire broke out in the late morning and quickly ripped through nearly 8 square miles of trees and brush, sending up an enormous plume of dark smoke near Lake Castaic, a popular recreation area about 40 miles from the devastating Eaton and Palisades fires that are burning for a third week, the AP reports.

• Offramps along Interstate 5, a major north-south artery, were closed as flames raced along hilltops and down into rugged canyons. Crews on the ground and in water-dropping aircraft tried to prevent the wind-driven fire from moving south toward more populated foothill communities in Castaic, home to about 18,000 people. At least three schools were evacuated as a precaution, the California Highway Patrol said.
• "We're just asking people to—I know it's hard to say, but stay calm and just listen to first responders," California Highway Patrol officer Isabel Diaz said Wednesday afternoon, per KCAL. "It's a very active and chaotic scene at the moment, and we're just all trying our best to get everyone out safely."

(More California wildfires stories.)