A fast-moving fire in California forced authorities to evacuate part of a prison holding 5,000 people Los Angeles County.
the hughes fire, That erupted Wednesday afternoon in Castaic, is 0 percent contained and has already burned nearly 9,300 acres, according to Cal Fire.
Although 4,000 firefighters battled the blaze, the rapidly growing flames forced more than 50,000 people from the area, including nearly 500 people. Detention center prisoners, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna.
A sheriff watches flames shoot up a hill as a plume of smoke from the Hughes Fire fills the sky in Castaic, a neighborhood northwest of Los Angeles, California, on January 22, 2025. (Frederick J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images)
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The Stadium Detention Center has three different facilities, one of which has already been evacuated Fire officials“The recommendation, according to Luna.
The inmates were transferred to another facility on the prison campus. If these facilities are deemed unsafe, the department will be tasked with moving more than 4,500 inmates.
“The other two campuses were designed much better than the one we were evacuated from,” Luna said. He added, “We have a plan to evacuate the remaining inmates in the entire facility, if we have to.”
A car drives near a hillside engulfed in flames by the Hughes Fire in Castaic, California, Wednesday, January 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
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Los Angeles County General Bar Associationthe Los Angeles People's City Council and the Los Angeles Justice Department posted on social media calling for the evacuation of Beaches inmates.
“We call on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and the Sheriff’s Department to take swift action to protect the lives of the thousands of incarcerated individuals in their care,” the Public Defenders Association wrote in a statement posted on X’s website.
“We are deeply concerned about the imminent danger this disaster poses to the health and safety of our customers,” the union wrote. “They should not be neglected or abandoned during this critical moment.”
The People's Assembly publicly accused officials of “waiting until the last minute,” claiming that authorities would not have enough buses to evacuate prisoners at one time.
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The California National Guard announced the launch of all eight MAFFS (Modular Aerial Fire Fighting System) aircraft in the United States, including two State Guard aircraft, to fight the Hughes Fire.
The California Guard's MAFFS are based at the 146th Airlift Wing, Channel Islands Air National Guard Station in Port Hueneme, while the other six aircraft were previously stationed there in response to the Palisades and Eaton fires.
“We will continue to closely monitor the situation and provide the federal government with everything it needs to extinguish this fire,” Governor Gavin Newsom wrote in a post on X.
