The Canyon fire broke out around 2 p.m. near Holser Canyon Road, northeast of Piru — a small, unincorporated town not far from Castaic Junction, according to Ventura County officials.
The fire was initially reported to be about 30 acres, but within about two hours that estimate jumped to over 1,000 acres, according to Ventura County officials. By 10 p.m., the fire had burned 4,856 acres and was spreading east toward Castaic and Interstate 5 in L.A. County.
“Fire conditions are settling down for the night, the air is cooling off, and we continue to have an aggressive fire attack happening, coordinated between ground resources and helicopters,” said Ventura County Fire Department spokesperson Andrew Dowd. “So while we certainly have a significant number of people still evacuated and a significant number of residents that are under evacuation orders, we continue to make good progress.”
That progress led to an evacuation order in a section of Val Verde being downgraded to an evacuation warning Thursday night, he said.
As midnight approached, 2,500 residents and 700 structures remained under evacuation orders, while an additional 14,000 people and more than 4,700 structures were affected by evacuation warnings, according to Dowd.
Dowd said affected residents were almost entirely in L.A. County. “In the area of the fire that’s in Ventura County, we do have four evacuation zones, but it’s a very sparsely populated area, very rural area, and the fire is moving east out of that area,” he said.
“We’re trying to build a box around this fire and put it out before it gets into any of the potential communities that are currently under evacuation orders,” said Dowd. “Our firefighters are working tirelessly in the heat and steep terrain to make that happen.”
In Ventura County, evacuation orders were issued for the Lake Piru Recreation Area as well as the communities of Camulos and Piru. In L.A. County, evacuation orders were issued for the communities of Val Verde, Hasley Canyon and Castaic. Several surrounding areas were under evacuation warnings.
L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who represents the Santa Clarita Valley, urged residents to heed evacuation alerts.
“Extreme heat and low humidity in our north county have created dangerous conditions where flames can spread with alarming speed,” Barger said in a statement. “If first responders tell you to leave, go—without hesitation. The Eaton Fire showed us how quickly devastation can strike.
An evacuation center was opened in the East Gymnasium of the College of the Canyons, at 26455 Rockwell Canyon Road in Santa Clarita.
Fixed-wing firefighter airplanes were grounded shortly around sunset per aviation regulations, but firefighting helicopters will remain at the scene overnight working with ground crews to try to get a handle on the blaze, Dowd said.
“Those helicopters are in constant communication with our ground resources to identify targets of opportunity, places where they can go in and bring in strategic water drops,” he said. “We have a quick [water drop] turnaround time because of our proximity to Lake Piru.”
Dowd said he was cautiously optimistic that crews would make strong progress on the fire overnight as winds and temperatures died down.
“There are light winds that are pushing the fire eastward, but we’re not seeing a significant wind-driven fire like we saw with Palisades or the Eaton fire or the Mountain fire in Ventura County,” he said. “Those were wind-driven fires with long-range spotting that was occurring, and this is much more of a fuel- and terrain- and temperature-driven fire.”
California
Canyon fire: Evacuation zones, road closures, shelters
The Canyon fire is threatening areas around Piru and Castiac. Here’s what you need to know.
Aug. 7, 2025
The American Civil Liberties Union raised concerns about the fire’s proximity to the Pitchess Detention Center, where about 5,000 inmates are housed in four jails. The center is east of the 5 Freeway and fell just outside an evacuation warning zone Thursday evening.
Senior staff attorney Melissa Camacho said she was “gravely concerned” about the growing fire.
“January’s Hughes fire burned within a half-mile of the jails and not a single person incarcerated there was evacuated,” Camacho told The Times. “It’s heartbreaking that, less than eight months later, the 5,000 people in the jails and their loved ones will spend another sleepless night watching a fire and praying that it doesn’t reach them.”
The L.A. County Sheriff’s Department, which operates the facility, said it was actively monitoring fire conditions and was in constant communication with fire and county officials.
“Similar to evacuation plans implemented at Pepperdine University in Malibu, the Fire Department has advised that a shelter in place strategy is the safest option for custody staff and inmates, given the building construction type and current fire behavior,” agency spokesperson Nicole Nishida said in a statement. The area around the building has been cleared of brush and has wide defensible space, she said.
California
A ‘brush with catastrophe’: Close call with Hughes fire stirs concerns about jail safety
Flames from the Hughes fire came within a mile of the Castaic jails before firefighters pushed them back. Inmate advocates are still haunted by the what-ifs.
Feb. 12, 2025
Dowd said he could not predict the fire’s behavior but noted that agencies will often take advantage of large roads such as freeways to create a natural geographic buffer against its spread.
Barger issued a local emergency proclamation shortly after 5 p.m. Thursday to enable L.A. County to expedite the deployment of resources to assist residents and combat the fire.
“Our priority is to protect lives, homes, and critical infrastructure, and this proclamation will help ensure that we have the tools and support necessary to meet the urgent needs of our communities,” she said in a statement.
Lake Piru Recreation Area is closed until further notice, as is Piru Canyon Road, which connects the town of Piru to the lake.
The Canyon fire is the fourth major blaze in the region in recent days, including the Gifford fire burning across the Santa Barbara-San Luis Obispo county line. That fire, which ignited last week, is now California’s largest this year at more than 98,000 acres.
