A stretch of Interstate 5 in northern Los Angeles County that was closed because of the nearby Hughes fire reopened Wednesday evening, according to the California Highway Patrol.
Earlier Wednesday afternoon, officials closed the freeway in both directions through the Grapevine, with northbound lanes shut down at the interchange with Highway 126 and southbound traffic closed at Grapevine Road on the southern edge of Kern County.
“For a variety of reasons, we will reopen the freeway so that people can go back and forth again,” L.A. County Sheriff Robert Luna said during a news conference.
However, Luna stressed that those who do not need to travel should still avoid the area.
“If you do not live in this area, if you’re following the smoke, if you want to go see what the firefighters are doing, turn on the television set,” he said. “Do not drive into these areas. You are impacting the ingress and the egress of emergency vehicles. We don’t need more traffic. We want less traffic.”