Evacuation orders for tens of thousands of Californians have been lifted in some areas as firefighters battling three of the largest blazes still burning in Los Angeles made progress on slowing the spread of flames.
After new fires ignited further south in the city of San Diego and on the Mexico border, a red flag emergency warning for critical fire risk was extended through the course of Friday local time.
The area has been facing constant challenges in controlling the fires, as dangerous winds gained strength again on Thursday.
Firefighters in Los Angeles are starting to make more headway on major wildfires still burning across southern California. (AP: Jae C. Hong)
The Hughes fire broke out late on Wednesday morning and in less than a day charred more than 4,207 hectares of trees and brush near Castaic Lake, a popular recreation area about 64 kilometres from the devastating Eaton and Palisades fires that are burning for a third week.
Crews made significant progress by late afternoon on fighting the Hughes fire, with more than 36 per cent of the blaze contained according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL Fire).
New satellite imagery has also highlighted the extent of the burn from the Hughes fire in mountains situated along the Castaic Lake north of Santa Clarita.
Authorities said on Thursday evening that the Palisades fire — the largest and most destructive in LA’s history — is 77 per cent contained after tearing through almost 10,000 hectares, while the Eaton fire in North Pasadena and Altadena is 95 per cent contained after burning more than 5,674 hectares.
The two new blazes reported in the San Diego area are not contained and have been named the Gilman Fire and the Border 2 Fire.
The Gilman Fire is burning south of the wealthy enclave of La Jolla near the University of California’s San Diego School of Medicine and only burned just over a hectare of land before firefighters could stop its rapid spread.
The Border 2 Fire was spreading on Thursday through the Otay Mountain Wilderness and has burned more than 229 hectares of land that is home to the endangered Quino checkerspot butterfly and other unique species.
Earlier, a new blaze named the Laguna fire promoted a fresh evacuation order for the California State University Channel Islands campus in Camarillo, but the order was quickly downgraded after water-bombing helicopters responded to douse the flames.
Rain is forecast to fall over the weekend, potentially ending Southern California’s months-long dry spell and winds are not as strong as they were when the Palisades and Eaton fires first broke out on January 7.
That also helped the fight against the Hughes fire, allowing helicopters to drop water to keep it from growing, fire spokesperson Jeremy Ruiz said.
Water-bombing helicopters were tasked with dousing the flames of the Hughes fire, burning toward the north of LA’s downtown. (AP: Marcio Jose Sanchez)
“We had helicopters dropping water until around 3am. That kept it in check,” he said.
Officials have welcomed the wet weather, but emergency crews have been shoring up hillsides and installing barriers to prevent debris flows as residents returned to the charred Pacific Palisades and Altadena areas.
Nearly 54,000 residents in the Castaic area were still under evacuation warnings on Thursday but there were no reports of homes or other structures that had been burned, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
The California fires have caused at least $US28 billion ($44.2 billion) in overall insured damages and more in uninsured damage, according to disaster modelling firm Karen Clark and Company.
On the heels of that assessment, California Republicans are pushing back against suggestions by President Donald Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson and others that federal disaster aid for victims of wildfires should come with strings attached.
Flames from the Hughes fire spread early and quickly up ravenous hillsides in the mountains near Castaic Lake. (AP: Ethan Swope)
Mr Trump, speaking in a Fox News interview aired on Wednesday local time, threatened to shut off federal funding unless California altered its water management.
“I don’t think we should give California anything until they let water flow,” the president said during the interview at the White House.
California’s Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom has hit back at some of the criticisms levelled by Mr Trump at his state, saying his comments about Californian water management are completely unrelated to the issues surrounding the potential cause of and response to the fires.
Mr Trump said California conservation efforts in the northern part of the state were responsible for fire hydrants running dry around Los Angeles, which Mr Newsom says was a misstatement or misunderstanding of what happened when three local reservoirs in the Palisades area ran out of water as firefighters tackled the fire.
Nearly 54,000 residents in the Castaic area are still under evacuation warnings but there were no reports of burned homes or structures. (AP: Ethan Swope)
“The State Water Project has nothing to do with water supply as relates to fire suppression for municipal systems,” Mr Newsom told a press conference.
“It’s very damaging when people believe such misinformation.”
The state Legislature approved a more than $US2.5 billion ($3.95 billion) fire relief package on Thursday, in part to help the Los Angeles area recover from the fires.
Mr Trump plans to travel to the state to see the damage first-hand on Friday, but it isn’t clear whether he and Governor Newsom will meet during the visit.
AP/Reuters
