The Hughes fire, which broke out north of Santa Clarita earlier Wednesday, has scorched more than 8,000 acres, according to Cal Fire.

The latest SoCal wildfire ignites two weeks after the still-uncontained Palisades and Eaton fires began devastating Los Angeles

Blaze consumes 14 hectares per minute driven by wind gusts, threatening several residential areas of Santa Clarita

The Hughes Fire has spread over 8,096 acres after starting just before lunchtime in Los Angeles County's Castaic Lake area on Wednesday.

Southern California is battling the Hughes Fire, which broke out around 11 a.m. near Lake Hughes Road, close to the 5 Freeway and Castaic Lake in Los Angeles County.

The Sepulveda fire was the latest blaze in a nerve-racking week as Southern California headed into a fourth consecutive day of red flag fire weather warnings. The alerts caution that conditions are ripe for fires to ignite and spread rapidly.

Extreme drought expanded into parts of Los Angeles County as a dry start to the wet season continues. See this week’s California Drought Monitor report.

Firefighters are responding to a brush fire in the Castaic area of Los Angeles County Wednesday morning, according to the Angeles National Forest.

The fire threat remains critical in Southern California, where thousands of residents were under evacuation orders Wednesday as fire crews battled the out-of-control Hughes Fire near Castaic, a suburb in the foothills and mountains of northern Los Angeles County.

Exhausted firefighters battling deadly infernos for weeks are now grappling with two new wildfires torching Southern California.

The Hughes fire started off Lake Hughes Road just before 11 a.m. and quickly prompted evacuations orders in and around Castaic Lake, which by afternoon extended toward Ventura County to the west and near Sandberg to the north. More than 31,000 people were ordered to evacuate and another 20,000 were in areas where evacuation warnings were issued.