Firefighters wary despite gains against California fire

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Southern California firefighters contained part of the fifth-largest fire in the state’s history but warned coastal communities Wednesday that they’re still at risk if unpredictable winds whip up again and fan the flames.

The National Weather Service extended warnings through Friday of extreme fire danger conditions throughout much of Southern California due to lack of moisture along with a possible increase in wind gust speeds at the end of the week.

Firefighters made some progress Wednesday on corralling the so-called Thomas Fire, which has spread into national forest land northwest of Los Angeles. However, they warned that the fire would continue to spread west as it eats up parched brush.

By Wednesday evening, state fire officials said the blaze was 30 percent contained but it continued to threaten Santa Barbara, Carpinteria, Summerland and Montecito — a wealthy area home to celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey.

Since the blaze broke out on Dec. 4, it has burned more than 372 square miles (965 square kilometers) and destroyed 921 buildings — including at least 700 homes. It threatens 18,000 buildings and has prompted evacuations of about 100,000 people.

Elsewhere, fire officials announced that a cooking fire at a homeless encampment sparked a blaze last week that destroyed six homes in the exclusive Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles.

Arson investigators determined that the so-called Skirball Fire near the world-famous Getty museum was started by an illegal fire at a camp near a freeway underpass, city fire Capt. Erik Scott said.

The camp was empty when firefighters found it, but people apparently had been sleeping and cooking there for at least several days, he said.

The Fire Department was working on a plan to locate such encampments at the start of fire season next year to avoid danger, Scott said.

At the largest of the fires northwest of Los Angeles, firefighters protected foothill homes while the flames churned mostly into unoccupied forest land, Santa Barbara County Fire Department spokesman Mike Eliason said.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member Eric Burdon and his wife, Marianna were among the people who fled the smoke in the small city of Ojai Tuesday.

Burdon, a member of the 1960s British Invasion band The Animals, wrote on Facebook last week about having to flee and returning temporarily to find his home still standing with ashes all around it.

“A week like this gives you the perspective that life is what truly matters,” he wrote.

A photo accompanying the post showed his handprint and signature written in ashes.

California’s Thomas Fire 45 Percent Contained

In this photo provided by the Santa Barbara County Fire Department, a Bombardier 415 Super Scooper makes a water drop on hot spots along the hillside east of Gibraltar Road in Santa Barbara, Calif., on Sunday morning. Mike Eliason/AP

Firefighters battling the massive Thomas Fire northwest of Los Angeles were working against another round of high winds to prevent its spread to homes in Santa Barbara and Montecito.

The blaze — which has gone on for two weeks and engulfed some 269,000 acres — has become the third largest wildfire in the state’s modern history, surpassing the 2003 Cedar Fire in San Diego County.

The Thomas Fire is now 45 percent contained, according to Calfire. It has destroyed over 1,000 structures, including at least 750 homes.

“Everything’s holding really well,” fire information officer Lisa Cox said. “Thousands of homes have been saved.”

A slew of voluntary evacuation orders were in effect over the weekend for Santa Barbara and Ventura counties, including for the Santa Barbara Zoo. Thomas Incident Commander Todd Durham said the fact [that] people heeded them helped thousands of firefighters in the area to focus on saving homes, reports member station KCLU’s Lance Orozco.

“Crews cleared brush and dug containment lines above hillside neighborhoods in Santa Barbara County, taking advantage of slightly calmer winds a day after gusts fanned a flare-up that prompted more evacuations,” The Associated Press reported.

An incident map from Sunday, showing the spread of the Thomas Fire Calfire

National Weather Service meteorologist Dan Gregoria tells member station KPCC that the state’s long drought has caused underbrush to become extremely dry, “record levels,” he said. “No one should be burning outdoors,” Gregoria said.

Northerly “sundowner” winds drove the fire south and west on Saturday night, according to Mark Brown, of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

“When the sundowners surface in that area and the fire starts running down slopes, you are not going to stop it,” Brown said at a news conference. “And we are not going to stand in front of it and put firefighters in untenable situations.”

Gusts up to 70 mph in mountainous areas along the coast were threatening to bring down power lines and spark more fires, according to Southern California Edison, which is considering a preventative power cut to some parts of Malibu, the AP reports.

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For complete coverage of the California wildfires, click here: https://apnews.com/tag/Wildfires.