As Southern California enters its second week engulfed in flames, fire officials anticipate more growth and danger due to continued strong wind gusts, no rain and decades-old dry vegetation.
Fires are not typical in Southern California this time of year but can break out when dry vegetation and too little rain combine with the Santa Ana winds. Though the state emerged this spring from a yearslong drought, hardly any measurable rain has fallen in the region over the past six months.
Southern California’s gusty Santa Ana winds have long contributed to some of the region’s most disastrous wildfires. They blow from the inland toward the Pacific Ocean, speeding up as they squeeze through mountain passes and canyons.
(Text by AP)
The California wildfire erupted sometime in the first week of December, near the foothills of Los Angeles. Some 1,000 households in Ventura County, California, about 115 km northwest of Los Angeles, were told to leave, as the as the 10,000-acre wildfire, known as the Thomas Fire (pictured here), burned dry brush after erupting on December 5.
More than week into this wind-driven wildfire, nearly 800 buildings have been torched and 230,000 acres have been charred. Santa Ana winds and the rugged mountainous terrain have hindered firefighters as they battle the blaze, which has left 90,000 homes and businesses without power.
At the peak, about 212,000 people were forced to flee their homes. But come December 9, evacuation orders were lifted in some areas - welcome news for many in shelters waiting to see if their homes survived.
Some of the other fires burning over the past week in San Diego and Los Angeles counties have been largely controlled by the thousands of firefighters on the ground this week. Two of the most dangerous fires, in Ventura County and San Diego County, were zero to 10 % contained.
A powerful flare-up on the western edge of the largest and most destructive wildfire sent residents fleeing again on Sunday Dec.10, as wind-fanned flames ripped down hillsides toward coastal towns northwest of Los Angeles. New evacuations were ordered as the fire sent up an enormous plume near Montecito and Carpinteria, seaside areas in Santa Barbara County.
More than 8,700 firefighting personnel are working on the blaze, which has travelled from the San Diego area up the Pacific Coast to Santa Barbara County. The cost of fighting as of Sunday, December 10, was nearly $34 million, Cal Fire. It is already the fifth-largest wildfire on record in California.
A plane drops fire retardant on a wildfire on Friday, Dec. 8, 2017, in Fallbrook, California. This is not the first fire this year. Back in October, 17 major wildfires — some encompassing several smaller blazes merged together — had consumed nearly 222,000 acres of dry brush, grasslands and trees across eight counties.
California is still recovering from the October wildfires in the northern part of the state that resulted in insured losses of more than $9 billion. Those fires, which were concentrated in California's wine country, killed 43 people.
In the worst year, 2015, about 9.3 million acres burned. Fire crews search for hot spots among destroyed homes in the Rancho Monserate Country Club community Friday, Dec. 8, 2017, in Fallbrook, Calif.