The artificial intelligence behind Alert California is interpreting camera footage so firefighters can predict how a column of smoke will grow into a wildfire.

The Hughes Fire, near the Castaic Lake area, spread to more than 10,000 acres as the smaller Sepulveda and Laguna fires broke out.

Evacuations have been lifted after a fire sparked south of UC San Diego on Thursday afternoon, but a second fast-moving fire in the Otay Mountain area is quickly growing. Crews were able to keep the ...