Staff Writer
Early Tuesday morning, on Dec. 5, a new wildfire began ravaging Santa Paula, California. The new fire, predominantly fueled by wind, had burned 31,000 acres of land and forced 27,000 people to evacuate their homes on Tuesday. At least 1,000 structures had been swallowed by the flames and the insane wildfire is still growing. On Friday, Dec. 19, the blaze, labeled “The Thomas Fire,” expanded to 271,000 acres, which is equivalent to 423 square miles. It is now California’s third largest wildfire in history,
Officials are saying that the fire broke out on Monday, Dec. 4, east of the city of Santa Paula, which is 60 miles northwest of Los Angeles. By Tuesday morning, the fire was already a massive 48 square miles.
“The fire growth is just absolutely exponential,” Ventura County Fire Chief Mark Lorenzen said to CBS News, “All that firefighters can do when we have winds like this is get out ahead, evacuate people, and protect structures.”
One of the buildings not protected was the Hawaiian Village Apartments. Firefighters prevented that fire from spreading, as winds of up to 50 mph attempted to stop them.
On Friday, Dec. 8, the fire headed towards San Diego County, destroying over 4,000 acres overnight. “We are nowhere near the end of this,” Rona Lane, the county’s deputy chief officer said, “There are thousands of homes that are within the path of these fires.”
The first person unfortunately died on Thursday, Dec. 14. Cory Iverson, 32, was a fire engineer who had been fighting the east flank of the Thomas Fire. Iverson’s death was the first fatality of the wildfire.
Three separate fires close to Los Angeles forced over 100,000 people to evacuate, which is a lot more than the 27,000 statewide Tuesday. Although most of Los Angeles hasn’t been destroyed by the flames, Mayor Eric Garcetti said that “it was still an insecure time.” Winds could pick up at any time during the day, which could threaten the city. Furthermore, the Creek Fire, the largest inferno frightening the area, has already grown to over 15,000 acres and only 20 percent of it was contained. The Creek Fire has destroyed more than 60 structures, with around half of them homes, and another 2,500 buildings are in the path of destruction. With a State of Emergency being declared, it seems that no one in Southern California is safe, as anything could happen with these fires.
