Firefighters continued to battle the Hughes Fire in Castaic, which burned 10,176 acres and reached 24% containment as of Thursday afternoon, according to CalFire.
Supervisor Kathryn Barger told L.A.'s Morning News we're not out of the woods just yet.
"My greatest fear is that if the winds pick up, it carries the embers, and then we have what we saw happening in Eaton Canyon...and that is spot fires, you know, miles away which spreads our resources," she said. "So it's going to be, you know, minute by minute right now, but I know that Chief Marrone and CalFire, who have been absolutely incredible, are very focused on containment and keeping it away from the residents."
The fire started just before 11 a.m. Wednesday at Lake Hughes Road near Castaic Lake, burning 500 acres in less than 30 minutes.
During an evening press conference, L.A. County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said that the "situation remains dynamic and the fire remains a difficult fire to contain, although we are getting the upper hand."
Mandatory evacuation orders were issued in the Castaic Lake area and spread to Lake Piru in Ventura County. L.A. County Sheriff Robert Luna said around 31,000 people were under evacuation orders while 25,000 were under evacuation warnings.
An evacuation shelter was established at College of the Canyons East Gym at 26455 Rockwell Canyon Rd.
Per CalFire, the following roads were closed due to the fire:
--Ridge Route Rd at Lake Hughes
--Ridge Route Rd at Templin Hwy
--Lake Hughes at Pine Cyn
--Dry Gulch at San Francisquito Cyn Rd
--I-5 NB at Parker Rd Off Ramp and I-5 NB at Lake Hughes Rd off ramp will be shut down.
--Northbound I-5 all lanes closed just north of State Route 126.
I-5 Grapevine
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Officials with the Castaic Unified School District announced Wednesday that all schools would be closed on Thursday. College of the Canyons closed both of its campuses in Santa Clarita on Wednesday and would remain closed on Thursday.
The cause of the fire is unclear at this time.
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