Photos: Hughes fire in Castaic explodes to more than 9,000 acres in just hours

As the sun began to set over Castaic Lake on Wednesday, the hills to the north and east were engulfed in flames, casting an eerie orange glow across the valley below.

The Hughes fire ignited earlier in the day north of Castaic and by evening had grown to more than 9,000 acres, forcing the evacuation of about 31,000 people.

Overhead, a pair of firefighting helicopters circled in constant, hurried laps between the lake and the burning hillsides. It took them only about a minute to fill their water tanks with hoses as they hovered above the surface, then only a couple of more minutes to drop their loads on the flames and return for more.

(Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)

A firefighter watches as the sun illuminates the smoke of the Hughes fire in Castaic.

(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)

Burning embers swirl as hand crews work to contain the wind driven Hughes fire burning in Tapia Canyon.

(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)

A bulldozer operator drives into the flames to set up a containment line off Charlie Canyon Road.

(Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)

Firefighters light backfires to control the Hughes fire off of Tapia Canyon Road.

(Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)

Residents at the Castaic Lake RV Park spray down their homes as the Hughes fire burns in the distance.

(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)

A firefighting helicopter makes a water drop on wind driven flames in the Hughes fire off Charlie Canyon Road.

(Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)

Firefighting hand crews work the ground to prevent the spread of the Hughes fire.

(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)

Th Hughes fire continues to burn in Tapia Canyon just east of the 5 freeway.