Forward progress of the Sepulveda Fire that erupted quickly overnight off the 405 freeway near Getty Center in Los Angeles was contained at 45 acres early Thursday morning. Evacuation orders for that one were lifted.

Mark E. Potts is the senior editor for video at the Los Angeles Times. A native of Enid, Okla., Potts graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a master’s degree in broadcast journalism. He has created and edited video for DreamWorks, YouTube, Microsoft, Sony and BET.

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

Evacuation orders and warnings were issued to more than 31,000 people in the vicinity of two new wildfires north of Los Angeles on Wednesday.

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.

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.