As fire spread up to the eastern edge of Santa Barbara County, and looped around to the north, Los Angeles-area firefighters joined personnel from as far away as Montana in the response.
At midday, the Thomas fire had burned 173,000 acres, and had split onto two forks in an uncontrolled move west into the Santa Barbara foothills, and northwest towards Lake Cachuma.
Winds were not spreading the fire east or south towards Los Angeles County.
Cal Fire officials told KEYT television in Santa Barbara that the Thomas fire had destroyed 754 buildings in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties as of midday Sunday. Another 162 structures were damaged, with both totals certain to increase as damage assessment efforts continued.
The Thomas fire burns through Los Padres National Forest near Ojai, Calif., on Friday, Dec. 8, 2017. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)Firefighter Joe Santos of Nevada works to contain the Thomas fire burning through Los Padres National Forest near Ojai, Calif., on Friday, Dec. 8, 2017. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)U.S. Forest fire crews fight fire with fire as they set off huge backfires to cut off the northern flank of the Thomas fire near Rose Valley recreation area on Saturday. Dec. 9, 2017 in the Los Padres National Forest. The Thomas Fire has spread to near 150,000 acres. (Photo by Gene Blevins for the Los Angeles DailyNews/SCNG)U.S. Forest fire crews fight fire with fire as they set off huge backfires to cut off the northern flank of the Thomas fire near Rose Valley recreation area on Saturday. Dec. 9, 2017 in the Los Padres National Forest. The Thomas Fire has spread to near 150,000 acres. (Photo by Gene Blevins for the Los Angeles DailyNews/SCNG)U.S. Forest fire crews fight fire with fire as they set off huge backfires to cut off the northern flank of the Thomas fire near Rose Valley recreation area on Saturday. Dec. 9, 2017 in the Los Padres National Forest. The Thomas Fire has spread to near 150,000 acres. (Photo by Gene Blevins for the Los Angeles DailyNews/SCNG)Huge smoke clouds rise into the sky at the Thomas fire Saturday. The Thomas Fire has spread to near 150,000 acres. (Photo by Gene Blevins for the Los Angeles DailyNews/SCNG)U.S. Forest fire crews fight fire with fire as they set off huge backfires to cut off the northern flank of the Thomas fire near Rose Valley recreation area on Saturday. Dec. 9, 2017 in the Los Padres National Forest. The Thomas Fire has spread to near 150,000 acres. (Photo by Gene Blevins for the Los Angeles DailyNews/SCNG)U.S. Forest fire crews fight fire with fire as they set off huge backfires to cut off the northern flank of the Thomas fire near Rose Valley recreation area on Saturday. Dec. 9, 2017 in the Los Padres National Forest. The Thomas Fire has spread to near 150,000 acres. (Photo by Gene Blevins for the Los Angeles DailyNews/SCNG)A motorists on Highway 101 watches flames from the Thomas fire leap above the roadway north of Ventura, Calif., on Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2017. As many as five fires have closed highways, schools and museums, shut down production of TV series and cast a hazardous haze over the region. About 200,000 people were under evacuation orders. No deaths and only a few injuries were reported. (AP Photo/Noah Berger) Noah BergerA large home on Cobblestone Drive in Ventura, burns during the Thomas Fire. The flames have chased animals away from their habitats. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)Flames from the Thomas fire burn above a truck on Highway 101 north of Ventura, Calif., on Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2017. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)A home burns in the Nob Hill Estates area Tuesday morning as the Thomas Fire continues to burn near Ventura, CA.(Photo by Andy Holzman/SCNG)A home burns along Via Baja Tuesday morning as the Thomas Fire continues to burn near Ventura, CA.(Photo by Andy Holzman/SCNG)Show Caption of Expand
Some 88,000 evacuees have left the area, many east on the 101 Freeway to friends or family in the Southland. Traffic on the coastal route was flowing Sunday, although fire has scorched houses along the freeway east of Carpinteria and west of Ventura.
In Los Angeles County, the Skirball, Creek and Rye fires were winding down Sunday, and some of the fire trucks, personnel and support equipment from those blazes was flowing west to Ventura and Santa Barbara.
A Hiroshima-like cloud of smoke rose from the fire front, visible from Los Angeles County, at sunrise Sunday. The situation was dire in the foothills north of Highway 192, parallel to and north of the 101 Freeway.
RELATED: New evacuations issued as massive Thomas fire flares up, moves into Santa Barbara County
Houses on the northern fringe of Carpinteria and Montecito were burning.
Thirty fire helicopters and six airplanes were at the Thomas fire, many of them from Southland fire agencies. A squadron of four fire choppers was observed flying in formation down the coast towards Santa Monica on Saturday.
Two strike teams from the City of Los Angeles were at the Thomas fire Sunday, and units and firefighters from Beverly Hills, Culver City and Santa Monica were in that joint effort. That mutual aid began last Tuesday, a spokeswoman said.
The Los Angeles County Fire Department had seven strike teams assigned to the Thomas fire. In all, at least 100 fire department personnel were there, including bulldozer operators and inmate crews.
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“We’re in the process (now) of taking off (firefighters) from the Creek fire and Rye fire, as they wind down, and re-allocating them to the Thomas fire,” said county fire dispatcher Ed Pickett. He said that process will take place all-day Sunday.
The Orange County Fire Authority sent one strike team, with five engine companies, to the Thomas fire when it first began. No new resources going to the fire now.
Among the troops sent from Orange County to Santa Barbara was OCFA Capt. Steve Concialdi, who is serving as press information officer for the unified command. He told KEYT-TV Sunday that obeying evacuation orders was crucial.
“We tried to by sympathetic and allowed residents (of one area north of Carpinteria) to come back in, and then we had to evacuate them again,” Concialdi said.
Source: Oc Register
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