Shortly after the Hughes Fire exploded, a Los Angeles County deputy said: Atty. Jonathan Hatami said he rushed out of the Michael Antonovich Antelope Valley Courthouse in Lancaster and drove back to Santa Clarita. There, his children and hundreds of others were being evacuated from West Creek Academy as smoke darkened overhead.
“There were parents crying. You had younger kids… they were crying. You could see smoke coming from the school. Everyone was a little nervous.” said Hatami, who has two children aged 1 and 10.
The blaze has forced thousands of residents to evacuate, shut down north-south highways, threatened inmates at a large prison and firefighters who have been battling blazes across Southern California for weeks. and emergency workers were deprived of their rest. Khatami and his family received an evacuation order Wednesday night, and Khatami’s wife, a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy, was dispatched to the fire early that afternoon.
The veteran prosecutor said the entire family was experiencing “fire fatigue” after waiting for more than two weeks for wind-driven flames to threaten their home.
“We’re kind of on standby to see what happens and we’re ready to go,” he said. Photos taken from Hatami’s backyard showed a huge gray cloud of smoke looming in the distance, and he cringed at the thought of his wife getting even closer to the flames.
“Everyone’s nervous. There’s a lot of it. I love California. I love Los Angeles, but this is definitely stressful,” he said. “It’s hard to go to work when you’re worried your house is going to burn down, your kids are in school, your wife is out, and you don’t know what’s going to happen to her.”
The Hughes Fire quickly burned 5,000 acres, forcing thousands of people to evacuate their homes during a month of extreme fires that plagued Southern California.
The fire started just before 11 a.m. on Lake Hughes Road, immediately prompting evacuation orders for Castaic Lake and the surrounding area, and by the afternoon had spread to Ventura County to the west and near Sandburg to the north. Ta. More than 19,000 people were ordered to evacuate, and another 14,000 were in areas where evacuation advisories had been issued.
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