The Hughes fire ignited about 45 miles north-west of the city of Los Angeles on Wednesday morning, near Castaic Lake in a mountainous area that borders several residential areas and schools.

The blaze grew to more than 9,200 acres in several hours on Wednesday, fuelled by winds and dry brush.

No homes or businesses have been damaged, and fire officials expressed confidence about getting the blaze under control.

The new fire is located north of the two mammoth blazes – which are still burning – that destroyed multiple neighbourhoods in the Los Angeles area earlier this month.

Local news showed residents near the Hughes fire hosing down their homes and gardens with water and others rushing to evacuate neighbourhoods.

Orange flames lined the mountains as aircraft dropped water and flame retardant.

The region is once again under a red flag warning, which cautions of a high fire risk due to strong winds and dry, low-humid conditions.

Winds in the area were blowing around 20 to 30mph (32 to 48km), but could pick up, which would fan the blaze and make it harder for air crews to operate.

About 31,000 people in the area are under a mandatory evacuation order and another 23,000 have been warned they may have to flee, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said.

A jail in the area was evacuating nearly 500 inmates at the facility, he added.

The fire continued to grow as the sun set, but Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said he believed crews were making progress.

“The situation remains dynamic, and the fire remains a difficult fire to contain, although we are getting the upper hand,” he said.

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Chief Marrone explained how different this fire is compared to the Palisades and Eaton fires, which killed at least 28 people and decimated more than 10,000 homes and businesses earlier this month.

He said it was a mix of lower winds – unlike the 70 to 90mph winds seen during the previous fires – and having so many helicopters and planes able to fight the blaze from above.

“I think that we’ve all been on edge over the last 16 days,” he said. “We were able to amass a lot of fire resources early on to change what this fire looks like.”

Ed Fletcher, who works for Cal Fire – California’s statewide fire agency – told the BBC that this fire was different than those earlier this month.

The winds are not as strong yet, he said, and there are a lot of crews trying to tame the flames.

“It’s super dry and we know it will be increasingly windy later,” he said. “We’ll know more in a few hours.”

Mr Fletcher noted the area is not highly populated and current winds are blowing the fire toward Castaic Lake, which is acting as a buffer between the Castaic area – home to about 20,000 residents.

“If it jumps the lake,” he said, “it becomes a much more dynamic situation.”

One woman who evacuated her home told NBC 4 that she was stuck on Interstate 5, California’s primary transportation highway that runs through the state.

Parts of the interstate in the area had been closed due to the fire.

“It looked like a cloud, but as you got close, it looked like we were driving into hell,” she said of the dark smoke and red flames she saw. “It was pretty terrifying to be honest with you.”

She acknowledged being on edge after watching the Palisades and Eaton fires burn nearby.

“I don’t know why they keep popping up,” she said. “It’s definitely a scary time in this area.”

Two other fires ignited Wednesday farther south near San Diego and Oceanside, officials said.

They are both smaller – 85 acres for the Lilac fire near Oceanside and 3.9 acres for the Center fire – but were burning in populated areas.

Fire crews appeared to have a handle on both of the blazes and evacuation orders had been mostly lifted.

Dana Dierkes, a spokesperson for the Angeles National Forest, noted the winds and dry brush have made these recent fires much harder to fight.

“We don’t have a fire season in California. We have a fire year,” she said. “We’ve had wildfires in January before, but it’s exacerbated by the Santa Ana winds. The wind is a huge factor when we’ve had such a dry year.”

Rain is in the weekend forecast in the region, a welcome bit of news to douse the fire threat. But the rainfall is bringing new fears in the form of mudslides, flooding and landslides.

Areas touched by the recent fires are particularly at risk because torched grounds aren’t as absorbent.

Governor Gavin Newsom signed an executive order on Monday to help free up resources for flood and landslide preparation after the fires.

Crews have been filling thousands of sandbags for danger areas.

Source: BBC

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These appointments are subject to the approval of the Central Bank of Nigeria (“CBN”).

Speaking on the appointments, the Group Chairman of FBN Holdings Plc, Dr. Oba Otudeko, CFR, said, “On behalf of the board, management and staff of FBNHoldings, I am delighted to welcome the trio of Seni Adetu, Mrs. Juliet Anammah and Otu Hughes to the FBNHoldings board as they bring on board their combined professional experience and expertise of over 97 years, cutting across various industries and institutions of global repute.”

“I am certain that these rich experiences will have immediate and long-term impact on the group and its subsidiaries across Africa and beyond,” he added further.

SENI ADETU

Seni Adetu, a former Managing Director/CEO Guinness Nigeria Plc, has 35 years of private sector experience garnered at the highest levels primarily with John Holt Plc, Coca-Cola International and Diageo (Guinness) Plc in various countries within and outside Africa.

He holds a first degree in Chemical Engineering and Masters in Business Administration (with specialisation in Marketing), both from the University of Lagos.

Adetu was at various times Marketing Director, Coca-Cola Nigeria Ltd, Managing Director of Coca-Cola, and the first African Managing Director/CEO and Executive Vice Chairman of Guinness Ghana Plc.

In 2009, Adetu was appointed Group Managing Director/CEO East African Breweries (EABL), the biggest company in East Africa, based in Kenya, during which time he was named Runner-up Forbes/CNBC CEO of the Year 2012 in East Africa.

He was subsequently appointed MD/CEO of Guinness Nigeria Plc and Executive Chairman Diageo Brands Nigeria thus, again becoming the first Nigerian in nearly 20 years to lead that company.

Adetu has had working stints in Hungary and the UK and has been exposed to various high-profile leadership courses globally including at the prestigious Harvard Business School.

He has served on the boards of various multinational companies in both Executive and Non-Executive capacity in Nigeria and abroad and was until recently an Independent Non-Executive Director on the Board of Fidelity Bank Plc and Non-Executive Director at APT Pensions Ltd among others.

Adetu is the Founder/Group CEO of Algorithm Media Limited and Ogilvy Nigeria Limited, two leading Marketing Communications agencies in Nigeria, in partnership with WPP, the world’s largest advertising and media agency network.

He is a member of many reputable social clubs including the Metropolitan Club Lagos.

He is also the immediate past National Vice President of the University of Lagos Alumni Association.

JULIET ANAMMAH

Juliet Anammah is Chairwoman Jumia Nigeria & Head of Institutional Affairs Jumia Group.

Jumia is the largest eCommerce platform in Africa and the first African Tech start-up to be listed on the NYSE

She is an experienced executive with 28+ years of professional experience including 7+ years at Partner / Chief Executive level.

Before her current role, she was the CEO of Jumia Nigeria.

Prior to joining Jumia, Juliet spent 16 years at Accenture and was the Partner managing Accenture’s Consumer Goods Practice in West Africa.

A Pharmacist by training, she started her career in Sales & Marketing with May and Baker (Sanofi-Aventis) in 1991 before joining Accenture as a Senior Strategy Consultant in 1999.

Juliet also serves on Corporate and non-profit Boards in a non-executive capacity.

She is currently on the Boards of Flour Mills of Nigeria and APT Pensions as Independent non-executive member.

She is also an EXCO member of Consultative Action Group for the Poor (CGAP) a not for profit agency funded by the World Bank, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and several Bilaterial/ Multilateral agencies.

She holds a Bachelor of Pharmacy degree, an MBA (Finance track) and is an alumnus of both Wharton College University of Pennsylvania (AMP) and Yale University.

OTU HUGHES

Otu Hughes has over 25 years’ experience in operations and strategy, principal investment, mergers and acquisition as well as capital raising in both the US and Sub-Saharan Africa.

He started his career in 1993 with Lehman Brothers, providing strategic and financial advisory services to government entities and companies in privatisation and empowerment issues, notably Brazil (power and mining), Ghana (mining), South Africa (empowerment programmes), amongst others.

Otu joined Deutsche Bank in 1998 as Associate– Mergers, Acquisitions and Corporate Advisory Group with the oversight responsibilities of providing mergers, acquisitions, corporate and strategic financial advisory services to companies and government agencies across industries and countries, rising to Vice President.

He is the Co-founder and Principal of Rofgam/Hughes Consulting and also worked at KeyBanc Capital Markets, amongst many others.

Otu is the Co-Founder & Managing Director of Candesco Limited, set up with the primary responsibility of developing and managing off-grid and independent power projects for Sub-Sahara Africa market, providing affordable, clean and stable power to clusters of communities.

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