Thousands of firefighters have been battling wildfires across 45 square miles of densely populated Los Angeles County. The two largest fires, the Palisades Fire in Pacific Palisades and the Eaton Fire near Pasadena, remain active. One of the latest, the Hughes Fire in the Castaic area, has prompted evacuation orders for tens of thousands of people.

The fire threat remains critical in Southern California, where thousands of residents were under evacuation orders Wednesday as fire crews battled the out-of-control Hughes Fire near Castaic, a suburb in the foothills and mountains of northern Los Angeles County.

The Hughes, Sepulveda and Laguna fires are among the latest blazes for Southern California during a fourth consecutive day of red flag fire weather warnings.

State an local officials held a news conference to update Angelenos on the status of the Hughes Fire. Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Anthony Marrone reported the blaze north of Los Angeles had grown to 9,