By Artemis Moshtaghian, Amanda Musa and Emma Tucker

(CNN) — Thousands of Southern California residents were under evacuation orders Wednesday as fire crews battled the out-of-control Hughes Fire near the town of Castaic, a suburb in the foothills and mountains of northern Los Angeles County.

Within five hours, the fire grew to more than 8,000 acres, according to Cal Fire. Residents in the immediate vicinity of Castaic Lake are under mandatory evacuations, according to the LA County Fire Department. The unincorporated community of Castaic is about 15 miles northwest of the city of Santa Clarita and borders the Angeles National Forest.

As of 4 p.m., the fire was 0% contained and impacting both Los Angeles and Ventura Counties, Cal Fire said. Approximately 19,000 residents are under evacuation orders, while 16,000 are under evacuation warnings, a Los Angeles County Fire Department spokesperson told CNN on Wednesday afternoon.

Evacuation numbers are “going to change,” Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna told CNN affiliate KCAL on Wednesday. “I have a feeling we’re going to upgrade that to something else.”

The inferno has forced officials to close part of Interstate 5, a major Los Angeles area freeway running north and south. The closed section of the freeway services suburbs north of Los Angeles, according to the California Highway Patrol.

At the rate it’s going, the blaze is burning a football field-sized area every 2 to 3 seconds. Winds in the area are currently around 20 mph and pushing flames toward the southwest, with wind gusts up to 30-40 mph at some spots, according to the National Weather Service.

A county jail in Castaic has been partially evacuated, according to a spokesperson for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. The jail is just south of the fire area and can hold as many as 4,295 inmates.

Approximately 470 inmates have been evacuated, a sheriff’s department spokesperson told CNN, but it was unclear why they were being moved or where they were being taken.

Meanwhile, all students who attend Castaic Middle School and Castaic High School were evacuated Wednesday to a Ralph’s supermarket parking lot, according to the California Highway Patrol. Students from North Lake Elementary were evacuated to the Castaic Sports Complex, the agency said on X.

The Valencia and Canyon Country campuses of College of the Canyons have been closed as a “precautionary measure” because of the Hughes Fire, the college said on its website.

Smoke is visible as far south as the city of Oxnard, about 50 miles southwest of Castaic in Ventura County, city officials said on social media Wednesday.

Images showed a large cloud of smoke moving west toward Interstate 5 as flames burned near Castaic Lake in the grassy hills just north of Santa Clarita.

The fire will likely spread toward the south and west, away from where it started, according to data and forecast models from thermal intelligence company Orora Technologies. Castaic is in considerable danger of being affected by spreading flames, the models show.

Satellite data used by Orora Technologies first detected a hotspot just north of Castaic Lake at 10:45 a.m. Officials with Cal Fire said they first detected a fire at 10:53 a.m.

The area where the fire started and is currently burning is largely shrub and grassland, with some limited forested areas, additional data from Orora Technologies shows.

Thick brush in the area is serving as fuel for the rapid fire spread, according to Angeles National Forest spokesperson Dana Dierkes.

“We’re in fairly steep conditions” and it’s “incredibly dry,” Dierkes told CNN affiliate KCAL on Wednesday. “There are homes in the general vicinity and in the immediate area.”

Fire officials previously told KCAL at least 10 firefighting aircraft had been requested for the aerial attack.

The entirety of Angeles National Forest is closed to the general public through January 24, according to the US Forest Service.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

The-CNN-Wire
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