A new fire, the Hughes Fire, broke out this Wednesday north of Los Angeles. Evacuation orders were issued for more than 31,000 people. Castaic Lake and its surrounding areas are under threat.
New scenes of chaos in California. On Wednesday January 22, a new fire, the Hughes Fire, broke out north of Los Angeles and is now spreading at high speed in a region already affected by flames in recent weeks. Evacuation orders have been issued to more than 31,000 people living around Castaic Lake, while 4,000 hectares have already been reduced to ashes, near the city of Santa Clarita. The fire is being fueled by the hot, dry Santa Ana winds, which still blow through the region.
4,600 firefighters mobilized, prisons threatened
On site, 4,600 firefighters were mobilized and planes accompanied by helicopters dropped water and fire retardant to try to slow the progression of the flames. The weather conditions are even expected to deteriorate during the day. In fact, an alert for strong winds until Friday morning was issued by the American services, the winds should actually strengthen from this Thursday evening.
Near Lake Castaic, four prisons with 4,700 people inside are also threatened by this new fire. One has already been evacuated and 500 prisoners transferred to another establishment, saidthe county sheriff Los AngelesRobert Luna.
“We are gaining the upper hand”
Firefighters also have to deal with “low humidity” in the area, and “bush”, engulfed in flames. “All these factors combined make the fire spread very quickly,” says Brent Pascua of the state Cal Fire agency to Agence-France-Presse (AFP). One element provides reassurance for the moment: due to previous fires in the region, numerous firefighters as well as Canadairs – who came as reinforcements from the west of UNITED STATES – are already on site, allowing a more rapid and intense fight against this new devastating fire.
If “the situation in which we find ourselves today is very different from that which prevailed” two weeks ago, it is important to “monitor the situation closely”. “The situation remains changing and the fire remains difficult to contain, but we are gaining the upper hand,” Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said Wednesday evening.
On the other hand, “if there is an evacuation order, leave. Don’t put your life in danger. Don’t put the lives of first responders in danger. It’s not worth it,” said Robert Luna. . A concern on site concerns Ventura County in particular, if the fire reaches this area, the situation could become critical due to dense and dry vegetation
Trump slams Democrats for keeping water to ‘protect smelts’
For his part, the President of the United States Donald Trump has once again accused the Californian authorities and their environmental policies since his inauguration, in the successive tragedies affecting the surroundings of Los Angeles. He said Democrats would divert rainwater to protect “smelts,” (a fish), rather than using it to fight fires.
“I don’t think we should give anything to California until they let the water flow from north to south,” he said on Fox News. California’s Democratic governor “has only one thing to do: release the enormous amounts of water that is held back in Northern California, flowing into the Pacific. But they are keeping the water to protect the smelts,” he explains. “Either they are stupid, or they hate our country,” he adds.