LAKE HUGHES (CNS) - A fast-moving brush fire quickly scorched about 10,000 acres in the Lake Hughes area today, prompting mandatory evacuations.
The Lake Fire was reported at about 3:30 p.m. near North Lake Hughes Road and Pine Canyon Road in the Angeles National Forest, according to Marvin Lim of the Los Angeles County Fire Department, which was battling the blaze with Angeles National Forest crews.
The fire had a “rapid rate of spread,'' and the Angeles National Forest and county fire departments called in second-alarm responses.
By 4:30 p.m., the flames had burned 400 acres, and officials said the fire had the potential to burn 1,000 acres, according the Los Angeles County Fire Department. That quickly changed two hours later, when the flames exploded across an estimated 10,000 acres, with no containment.
The fire was entirely on federal land as of 6:30 p.m., according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department.
The sheriff's department issued mandatory evacuation orders for residents on Lake Hughes Road, west of Pine Canyon Road and south of Dry Gulch Road.
The blaze sent a thick plume of dark smoke into the air, complicating efforts to fight the fire from the air.
Photo: Angeles Forest Service