Firefighters fought to maintain the upper hand on a huge and rapidly moving wildfire that swept through rugged mountains north of Los Angeles and resulted in more than 50,000 people being put under evacuation orders or warnings.

The Hughes Fire broke out late on Wednesday morning and in less than a day had charred nearly 41 square kilometres of trees and brush near Castaic Lake, a popular recreation area about 64 km from the devastating Eaton and Palisades fires that are burning for a third week.

Though the region was under a red flag warning for critical fire risk, winds were not as fast as they had been when those fires broke out, allowing for firefighting aircraft to dump tens of thousands of litres of fire retardant on the latest blaze. By Wednesday night, about 14 per cent of the Hughes Fire had been contained.

“The situation that we’re in today is very different from the situation we were in 16 days ago,” Los Angeles county fire chief Anthony Marrone said on Wednesday evening.

Red flag warnings were extended till 10 am (local time) on Friday in LA and Ventura counties. Officials remained concerned that the Palisades and Eaton fires could break their containment lines as firefighters continue watching for hot spots.

An evacuation warning was issued for Sherman Oaks, where there was an approximately 4-hectare brush fire burning on the Sepulveda Pass near the I-405 Freeway. The blaze was first reported just after 11 pm on Wednesday.

More than 31,000 people have been ordered to evacuate from the Hughes fire, and another 23,000 are under evacuation warnings, LA county sheriff Robert Luna said. There were no reports of homes or other structures burned.

Parts of Interstate 5 near the Hughes Fire that had been closed reopened on Wednesday evening.

New York Times News Service