across Lake Hughes Road and prompting evacuation orders and warnings in the Castaic Lake area.

More than 4,000 fire personnel have been assigned to the Hughes fire using ground and air resources, including about a dozen helicopters and helitankers that can drop between 360 and 3,000 gallons of water at a time, officials said.

Crews planned to work overnight to extinguish any hot spots or flare ups, said L.A. County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone.

“The situation remains dynamic, and the fire remains a difficult fire to control,” Marrone said. “Although, we are getting the upper hand.”

High winds, blowing northeast to southwest, were expected to continue in the area overnight, further inhibiting firefighting efforts, according to the National Weather Service Los Angeles. There could be gusts up to 65 mph. Strong winds and gusts are expected to continue into the later hours and today.

“Winds will be elevated enough to cause explosive fire behavior,” meteorologist Ariel Cohen said. “This is a very volatile situation and everyone needs to be prepared.”

Much of Los Angeles County and beyond remains under a “critical fire weather” red flag warning due to the dry, windy conditions throughout the region. The National Weather Service extended the red flag warning for much of Los Angeles and Ventura counties through 10 a.m. Friday.

“It’s not over yet,” said Cal Fire Director Joe Tyler. “We recognize we still got a couple days to go.”

Evacuation warnings were in place as far south as Highway 126 and north to Highway 138. Warnings are also in place to the Ventura County line just south of Pyramid Lake.

Mandatory evacuation orders expanded to the southwest, into the heart of Castaic. The Castaic Sports Complex, also under a mandatory evacuation order, was being used as a fire command post.

A temporary evacuation point was set up at Hart High School in Santa Clarita. The official evacuation center was at College of the Canyons East Gym, 26455 Rockwell Canyon Road in Santa Clarita, where the Red Cross was on site.

As of Wednesday evening, evacuation orders are impacting 31,000 people, and another 23,000 were affected by evacuation warnings.

Animal shelter locations include the Palmdale and Lancaster Animal Care Centers for small animals and the Lancaster Animal Care Center and Pierce College for large animals. The Agoura Animal Care center is now full and no longer able to accept animals, according to a post by the County of Los Angeles on X.

Students from Castaic middle and elementary schools were evacuated to a Ralphs parking lot in Hasley Canyon Village, where parents could pick them up. North Lake Elementary School students were evacuated to the Castaic Sports Complex.

One of the Pitchess Detention Center campuses in Castaic evacuated 476 inmates to the nearby North County Correction Facility on Wednesday, Einer Rivera, law enforcement tech with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Information Bureau, confirmed. In case conditions worsen, officials have a plan to evacuate the facility, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said.

Michael Flores, 57, and four other residents watched as the fire inched closer and closer to their homes.

The single-story home Flores has lived in for 27 years was just outside the mandatory evacuation zone. No matter how close it gets, he said he’s not leaving.

“I’m going to get the hose out if I have to cause I’m not leaving… no matter what,” Flores said.

As of about 6:30 p.m., the 5 Freeway reopened in both directions after closing for several hours.

Earlier in the day, areas of the 5 Freeway near Castaic Lake and the Hughes fire were “affected by the heavy smoke,” which affected drivers’ visibility, according to the California Highway Patrol.

Two northbound freeway off-ramps remain closed at Parker Road and at Lake Hughes Road, the CHP said.

Ridge Route Road is closed at Lake Hughes and at Templin Highway. Lake Hughes is closed at Pine Canyon, and Dry Gulch is closed at San Francisquito Canyon Road.

Firefighters from the LA County Fire Department and Angeles National Forest were attacking the blaze. It was unclear what sparked the fire, which occurred during persistent red flag fire conditions.

The Angeles National Forest was closed before the blaze ignited because of persistent fire-weather conditions. The area was scheduled to stay closed through Friday.

For evacuation warnings and orders, road closures and shelters, information is available online at fire.ca.gov/incidents