Firefighters made progress on the more than 10,000-acre Hughes Fire Friday, which sent thousands fleeing after sparking near the Los Angeles County community of Castaic a day earlier.

The Palisades and Eaton wildfires also continue burning in the Los Angeles area, leaving parts of Southern California with devastating fire damage.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said in an update Thursday that 18 people remain missing after the Southern California wildfires. Overall, authorities received a total of 43 missing persons reports related to the Eaton and Palisades fires. Of those, 12 were located safe.

Exhausted firefighters battling deadly infernos for weeks are now grappling with more wildfires torching Southern California – including one that’s threatening 14,000 structures.

Areas where the Palisades, Franklin, Eaton, Bridge, and Hughes wildfires burned are under a flood watch, the weather service said Sunday. Fresh burn scar areas stand at greater risk of mudslides because they no longer have trees and vegetation providing support to the land, according to AccuWeather Meteorologist Jacob Hinson.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Firefighters quickly extinguished several brush fires that erupted Monday in Southern California amid windy and dry conditions. The extreme fire weather is raising the risk of new wildfires like the two major blazes still burning near Los Angeles that started in similar weather nearly two weeks ago.

With parts of Los Angeles County still smoldering from wildfires, the expected rain this weekend would seem like a welcome relief. But how the rain falls could make the difference between a disaster respite or a disaster repeat.

Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley said that the fire department has deployed all available resources and positioned fire patrols and engines in high-risk areas across Los Angeles.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Evacuation orders were lifted Thursday for tens of thousands as firefighters with air support slowed the spread of a huge wildfire churning through rugged mountains north of Los Angeles, but new blazes erupted in San Diego County, briefly triggering more evacuations.

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.

Coverage of the Hughes, Sepulveda and Laguna fires in Southern California during a fourth consecutive day of red flag fire weather warnings.