About 31,000 people were evacuated on Wednesday as the fire sent huge flames and plumes of smoke over a hilly terrain in the Castaic Lake area near Santa Clarita.
The Eaton and Palisades fires, which levelled entire neighbourhoods on the eastern and western flanks of Los Angeles, have killed 28 people and damaged or destroyed nearly 16,000 structures over the past two weeks.
Helicopters battling the Hughes Fire scooped water out of a lake to drop on the fire while airplanes dropped fire retardant on the hills, video on KTLA television showed. Flames spread to the water’s edge.
Eyewitness video showed the skies north of Los Angeles tinted orange on Wednesday afternoon as the Hughes Fire expanded rapidly.
A smaller blaze, called the Sepulveda Fire, was burning along the 405 freeway near the Getty Museum – home to numerous art treasures – in the San Fernando Valley on Thursday.
The brush fire, which was 16 hectares and 0 per cent contained, briefly caused part of the heavily travelled highway to be closed and some nearby residents to be evacuated overnight.
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.
As of Thursday morning, the Eaton Fire that scorched about 5,670 hectares east of Los Angeles was 95 per cent contained, while the larger Palisades Fire, which has consumed about 9,490 hectares on the west side of Los Angeles, stood at 70 per cent contained, Cal Fire said.
