Alyce McFadden, a reporting fellow on The Times’s Metro desk, writes about what covering a disaster for the first time brought home to her.

Mandatory evacuations were issued Wednesday in the Castaic area due to the fast-spreading Hughes Fire. CAL FIRE's map shows the evacuation zones.

The Hughes Fire has burned more than 9,000 acres Wednesday around the Castaic Lake in Los Angeles County on Wednesday continuing a devastating wave of Southern California wildfires fueled by dry ...

The Hughes Fire was reported before 11 a.m. Wednesday in a remote area east of the lake, according to Cal Fire. Aided by gusting Santa Ana winds and thick, dry vegetation, the fire quickly gobbled ...

Firefighters continue to make progress in containing the massive Hughes Fire that broke out Wednesday near Castaic Lake, growing to more than 10,000 acres and forcing mass evacuations. Around ...

Firefighters made progress on the more than 10,000-acre Hughes Fire Thursday, which sent thousands fleeing after sparking near the Los Angeles County community of Castaic a day earlier.

Firefighters are working to contain a new wildfire, dubbed the Hughes Fire, which exploded east of Lake Castaic in northern Los Angeles County on Wednesday. The fire had charred more than 8,000 ...

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CASTAIC, Calif. (KABC) -- Smoke from the Hughes Fire shrouded a neighborhood near Castaic Lake Wednesday, making the atmosphere appear like night sky in the early afternoon hours. The intersection ...

On Wednesday, Jan. 22, the Hughes fire broke out in Castaic amidst the red flag warning, spreading to over 9,000 acres by Wednesday evening as dry and windy weather affected the area. Elsewhere in ...

Firefighters work to prevent the spread of the Hughes fire in Castaic on Wednesday afternoon. More photos (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) ...

Your life depends on it.” But for the 4,700 inmates at the facilities in the Castaic jail complex — all of which were in an evacuation zone by midafternoon — that would be impossible.