Firefighter dies in Thomas Fire
A Cal Fire San Diego firefighter has died battling the Thomas Fire, which has grown to become the fourth-largest wildfire in recorded California history.
LOS ANGELES — Fire officials confirmed Thursday that a firefighter died while battling the Thomas Fire, which ranks as the fourth-largest in California’s modern history.
“I am very saddened to report that a firefighter fatality has occurred on the Thomas Incident,” Chief Ken Pimlott, the director of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said in a statement. “Please join me in keeping our fallen firefighter and his loved ones in your prayers and all the responders on the front lines in your thoughts as they continue to work under extremely challenging conditions.”
Pimlott said the victim was a Cal Fire engineer from the San Diego unit. Details about the firefighter’s death were not immediately available.
“IMT 4, CAL FIRE Local 2881 and Southern Region leadership are working to support the Unit and his family, who have been notified,” Pimlott said.
Despite a couple of days of reduced winds and feverish efforts by firefighters to establish new containment lines, the 242,500-acre Thomas Fire has surpassed the size of the Zaca Fire, which scorched Santa Barbara County in 2007, according to Dave Zaniboni, a spokesman for the Santa Barbara County Fire Department.
Firefighters hope the 240,207-acre Zaca Fire burn scar, as well as the younger vegetation it contains, will help them fight the Thomas Fire’s growth along its western edge.
Firefighters have taken advantage of a two-day lull in winds to increase fire containment to 30 percent. Those efforts could be tested soon, however, as forecasters predict a new blast of Santa Ana winds Thursday, and sundowner winds over Santa Barbara County on today.
In Thursday’s incident report, fire officials said they didn’t expect to reach full containment of the blaze until Jan. 7 — more than three weeks from now.
The state of California began keeping records of wildfire acreage in 1932. While other large fires raged on the West Coast prior to that year, those records are less reliable, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
At a morning briefing Thursday, fire commanders said another day of extremely low humidity and moderate winds would greet firefighters as they continued to build containment lines above Carpinteria, Montecito and Santa Barbara.
The mountains north of the coast produce notoriously unpredictable and dangerous conditions for firefighters, said fire behavior analyst Tim Chavez. In the Matilija wilderness, which straddles the border between the two counties, observers saw 50-foot flames backing down a hillside overnight, he said. It’s unusual to see flames that tall working their way down a mountain, officials said.
“This thing is 60 miles long and 40 miles wide,” Chavez said of the blaze. “There’s a lot of fire out there.”
Gusty Santa Ana winds are expected for Los Angeles and Ventura counties Thursday, said Stuart Seto, a weather specialist with the National Weather Service. In the mountains, gusts of 55 mph are possible.
In the valleys, 15 to 25 mph gusts are predicted, with some gusts of up to 40 mph, Seto said. Over the past few days, a break in the weather has allowed firefighters to increase containment.