Firefighters battling one of the biggest blazes in California’s history hailed a “productive day” as weather conditions continue to turn in favor of the men and women trying to bring the Thomas Fire under control.
Monday saw a significant landmark reached, with 50% of the fire contained.
Mark Brown, operations section chief for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, also known as Cal Fire, said that “good progress” was being made in the effort to bring the fire, which has already claimed the life of one firefighter, under control.
“It’s nice to have a couple of days in a row where we’ve had good progress,” Brown said. “The weather conditions were just right for us; the winds were blowing into the fire.”
Cooler temperatures and a higher relative humidity were also aiding firefighters in their efforts. Cal Fire reported that the fire is expected to fully controlled by the end of the first week of January.
Swathes destroyed
As many as 271,000 acres have been burned so far, meaning that the Thomas Fire is on course to be California’s biggest in recorded history by January 7 — the date authorities expect to have it contained. The largest, the 2003 Cedar Fire near San Diego, destroyed 273,246 acres.
The fire also is currently the third-most destructive in structure losses, with more than 1,000 buildings burned, according to Cal Fire.
To date, it has burned an area larger than New York City, Washington D.C. and San Francisco combined — and is larger than any city in California except Los Angeles.
About $110 million has been spent fighting the massive blaze, fire officials said. This year has been the costliest for wildfires in US history. Damages topped $10 billion even before the current fires began in Southern California.
Evacuation order lifted
The spate of fires, which have burned for over two weeks without respite, have affected over 100,000 Californians, many of whom have been forced to flee their homes, either through mandatory or voluntary evacuations — with no guarantee that they will have anything to return to.
The Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Office announced the lifting of evacuation orders for portions of the county on Monday night.
Beginning at 6 a.m. Pacific time (9 a.m. ET) Tuesday, Coast Village Road between Olive Mill and Hot Springs roads will be reopened, a tweet from the Ventura County Fire Department public information officer states.
Eye in the sky
The United States Air Force (USAF) have made a reaper drone available to the fire teams to aid in suppressing the blaze.
Crews at March Air Force Base east of Los Angeles have been working “around the clock to provide almost 24 hours of near real time situational awareness,” according to a Facebook post from the Ventura County Fire Department.
The MQ-9 drone cruises at an altitude of 28,000, meaning its reconnaissance does not interfere with aerial firefighting tools such as helicopters and “super scooper” CL-415 firefighting aircraft.
“At that altitude the team and drone can quickly transition and acquire any point that may be of interest on the fire,” the post says.
“In addition to its speed, the MQ-9 provides both an electro-optical and infrared camera which provides greater clarity on what the incident commander is viewing on the ground.”