Hughes Fire rages outside Los Angeles as new wildfire erupts near busy 405 Freeway

Firefighters in Southern California conducted another fierce wildfire fight on Wednesday and into Thursday morning.Crews raced to contain the massive Hughes Fire in Los Angeles County while another blaze broke out near a busy freeway, impacting travel in the region.Officials with CAL FIRE said the Sepulveda Fire broke out near the heavily traveled 405 Freeway in the area of North Sepulveda Boulevard and Getty Center Drive near Sherman Oaks.Crews on the ground and in the air worked tirelessly to get that fire under control.A few hours later, the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) announced that all forward progress on the Sepulveda Fire had been stopped, and all evacuation warnings had been lifted.No evacuation orders were announced, but some areas that had been placed under an evacuation warning had previously been impacted by the still-burning Palisades Fire.The LAFD said no structures had been damaged, and no injuries were reported.Firefighters were expected to remain on the scene through Wednesday night to monitor the area, and traffic on the 405 Freeway was likely to be impacted as crews worked alongside the freeway.Firefighters were already hard at work trying to contain and extinguish the rapidly spreading Hughes Fire before the Sepulveda Fire broke out amid gusty Santa Ana winds that were continuing to plague Southern California.The Hughes Fire exploded in size on Wednesday near Castaic Lake in northern Los Angeles County, swelling to more than 10,000 acres by early Thursday morning.

At one point, while the inferno was raging on Wednesday, it was estimated that more than 30 acres were being consumed by flames every minute.More than 50,000 residents across the region were placed on alert, with several schools being located within the evacuation zone surrounding the fire. Officials said students at North Lake Elementary School were evacuated to the Castaic Sports Complex, while all students at Castaic Middle School and Castaic Elementary Sc...