It’s been nearly a week since the first stirrings of the wildfires ripping across Southern California sprang to life, and firefighters are still struggling to contain the blazes. The two largest and most destructive fires are growing despite firefighters’ best efforts at containment as the powerful Santa Ana winds – which are picking back up after another brief lull - fan the flames.
Santa Barbara officials expanded evacuations Sunday as the Thomas Fire continues to rage through the Southern California county - burning over 230,000 acres to make it the fifth largest in the state since California began keeping records in 1932. Overall, approximately 8,500 firefighters are battling six wildfires across Southern California.
After destroying hundreds of buildings and forcing the evacuations of more than 200,000 people, the seven discrete wildfires ravaging Southern California finally receded over the weekend as the powerful Santa Ana winds that had fanned the flames earlier in the week died down. But firefighters early Sunday warned that the battle is far from over, as the progress made in containing the flames might soon be undone when the powerful Santa Aana winds return on Sunday.
Images of charred palm trees and the burnt-out husks of multi-million-dollar homes flooded social media for a fifth day Friday as the SoCal wildfires that exploded into life at the beginning of the week showed no signs of slowing.
Instead, some of the largest fires have entered the heart of Los Angeles – America’s second largest city – and are menacing some of the most expensive homes in the country.
At least four devastating wildfires continued to ravage Southern California from Ventura County south to Los Angeles, as the stifling smoke and flames drove tens of thousands of people living in the Los Angeles area from their homes in an eerie replay of the fires that decimated Northern California’s wine country two months ago.