The Hughes Fire forced more than 5,000 people out of the Los Angeles jail
The fast-moving California wildfires have forced authorities to evacuate 5,000 people. Los Angeles County.
The Hughes Fire, which broke out in Castac Wednesday afternoon, is 0 percent contained and has already burned about 9,300 acres, according to Cal Fire.
Although 4,000 firefighters are fighting the blaze, it quickly forced the evacuation of about 50,000 firefighters, including about 500 inmates at the Picketts Detention Center, LA County Sheriff Robert Luna said.
A sheriff watches as smoke fills the sky from the Hughes Volcano in Castaic, a northwest suburb of Los Angeles, California, Jan. 22, 2025. (Frederick J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images)
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The Peaches detention center has three separate facilities, one of which has already been decommissioned at the suggestion of fire officials, Luna said.
The inmates were shifted to another facility within the prison compound. If those facilities are deemed unsafe, the department will be responsible for moving more than 4,500 inmates.
“The other two campuses are much better set up than the one we left,” Luna said. “If we ever have to, we plan to evacuate the remaining inmates throughout the facility.”
A vehicle is driven over a hill by the Hughes Fire in Castaic, Cal., Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
La Fares destroyed Ryan O’Neill’s Malibu home, which he once shared with Farrah Fawcett.
The LA County Public Defender’s Union, the Los Angeles People’s City Council and Justice LA have taken to social media to advocate for the release of Peaches’ inmates.
“We are calling on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and the Sheriff’s Department to take immediate action to protect the lives of thousands of incarcerated people,” the Public Defender’s Association said in a statement posted on Ex.
“We are appalled at the risk this accident poses to the health and safety of our customers,” the union wrote. “They should not be neglected or abandoned at this critical time.”
People’s Council officials publicly accused authorities of “waiting until the last minute” to evacuate the prisoners at the same time, saying they did not have enough buses.
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The California National Guard announced that the eight MAFFS (Modular Aerial Firefighting System) aircraft in the US, including two from the State Guard, were deployed to fight the Hughes Fire.
The California Guard’s MAFFS was based at the 146th Airlift Wing, Channel Islands Air National Guard Station at Port Hueneme, where the remaining six aircraft were pre-positioned to respond to the Palisades and Eaton fires.
“We will continue to monitor the situation closely and provide the federal government with everything necessary to extinguish this fire,” said Gov.