Rapidly progressing fires in California have forced authorities to evacuate parts of a prison that can hold 5,000 people. los angeles county.
The Hughes Fire, which broke out Wednesday afternoon in Castaic, is 0 percent contained and has already burned nearly 9,300 acres, Cal Fire said.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna says the fast-moving blaze has killed 50,000 people, including nearly 500 inmates at the Pitches Detention Center, even as 4,000 firefighters battle the inferno. It is said that more people were evacuated from the area.
A sheriff looks on as smoke from the Hughes Fire fills the sky and flames race up a hill on January 22, 2025 in Castaic, northwest of Los Angeles, California. (Frederick J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images)
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Luna said Pitches Detention Center has three different facilities, one of which has already been evacuated on the recommendation of fire officials.
The inmates were transferred to another facility on the prison grounds. If these facilities are deemed unsafe, the department would be tasked with removing more than 4,500 inmates.
“The other two campuses are much better structured than the one we evacuated to,” Luna said. “If absolutely necessary, we have plans in place to evacuate the remaining inmates throughout the facility.”
Vehicles drive past a hillside engulfed in flames caused by the Hughes Fire on Wednesday, January 22, 2025 in Castaic, California. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
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The LA County Public Defenders Union, the Los Angeles People's City Council, and the LA Judge posted on social media advocating for the evacuation of Pitches inmates.
In a statement published in “I will.”
“We are deeply concerned that this disaster poses an immediate risk to the health and safety of our customers,” the union wrote. “They must not be ignored or abandoned at this critical moment.”
The People's Council claimed that authorities did not have enough buses to evacuate prisoners at the same time and publicly accused authorities of “waiting until the last minute.”
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The California National Guard announced that all eight of the nation's MAFFS (Modular Air Firefighting System) aircraft, including two National Guard aircraft, were activated to fight the Hughes Fire.
The California National Guard MAFFS is based at the 146th Airlift Wing at Channel Islands Air National Guard Base in Port Hueneme, where six other aircraft were pre-deployed in response to the Palisades and Eaton fires.
“We will continue to closely monitor the situation and provide the federal government with whatever it takes to extinguish this fire,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a post on X.
