Biggest battle: Fight to halt inferno before it hits Santa Barbara
OJAI, Ventura County — As devastating Santa Ana winds picked up Thursday, thousands of firefighters dug in for an extended battle to halt the spread of the biggest wildfire in Southern California before it rampages over dry hills into Santa Barbara.
Howling gusts continued to usher on the 115,000-acre Thomas Fire, which had destroyed 439 structures in Ventura County and was threatening 15,000 more amid an unusual late-season storm of blazes that closed freeways and spurred mass evacuations all over the region.
It was one of a half dozen fires that left a smoky reddish halo stretching from chic Bel-Air and wooded Ventura almost all the way to San Diego, a kaleidoscope of trouble that residents aren’t likely to forget. Bay Area officials warned that smoke from the fires was drifting into the region and that some people in the Santa Cruz Mountains were smelling the smoke on Thursday.
By late Thursday, the Thomas Fire, which started Monday evening, burned into Santa Barbara County and was within 15 miles of the coastal city of nearly 100,000 people that draws tourists from around the world.
The blaze burned as well into the backyards of homes in the sleepy city of Ojai, in Ventura County, but firefighters pushed the flames west toward Carpinteria after “a hell of a firefight,” said Janet Upton, deputy director of the state’s Cal Fire agency.
The problem, she said, was that the sporadic winds were launching embers ahead of the conflagration, igniting spot fires.
“One of the silver linings about the Santa Ana winds is that we do know the direction they are going to blow,” Upton said. “They are going from east to west, so we can make a plan.”
The plan was to use air tankers, helicopters and as many as 70 strike teams to try to corral the stubborn flames as they blackened rugged areas surrounding McDonald Canyon, northwest of Ojai, through acres of avocado groves in a path toward the sea.
Upton said firefighters were removing brush from dozens of old fire lines built on Labor Day 2006, when the Day Fire burned through the area. Bulldozers were also carving new lines well ahead of the fire’s front edge, where crews hoped to pound the racing flames with retardant from the air.
“We’re in the thick of the worst in terms of weather conditions,” Upton said. “The wind will lessen over the weekend, but it’s really just a lesser evil because the winds will still be present.”
Highway 101 between Santa Barbara and Ventura counties was closed for several hours as the flames licked up against the road. CHP officers escorted motorists through heavy smoke during the morning commute.
Drew Peterson, a National Weather Service forecaster, estimated that wind speeds at lower elevations would approach 40 mph late Thursday and early Friday, and climb up to 60 mph at higher elevations. That, combined with relative humidities that Upton described as “lower than kilndried wood,” made for a perilous situation.
“We’re seeing this wind event now that is very, very dangerous,” Mark Ghilarducci, director of the California Office of Emergency Services, said Thursday. “These winds are going to be very severe in the next 24 to 48 hours.”
The weather service issued a red-flag warning for high winds and extreme fire conditions through 8 p.m. Sunday evening.
As the fires spread, a woman was found dead after what appeared to be a solo vehicle “accident” in Wheeler Canyon between Santa Paula and Ojai, possibly as she attempted to flee the fire, said Deputy Tim Lohman of the Ventura County Sheriff ’s Department.
In northern Ojai, Cameron Carlson, 56, said he spent Wednesday night defending his home from flames despite mandatory evacuation orders. He brushed dry leaves off the roof, flicked on the sprinklers and sprayed water around the perimeter.
Early Thursday morning, he said, the Thomas Fire blazed closer, growling “like a jet plane” and sucking wind into the center of the inferno. “We could see the fire coming,” he said. “Then it was here.”
The flames fanned down the mountainside in Carlson’s backyard and barreled through a riverbed overgrown with dry vegetation.
“I literally prayed in that moment, and it seemed like God answered,” Carlson said. “My fear turned into energy. I wanted to run but needed to stay.”
A parade of fire engines blared down the road, extinguishing the flames and saving a row of homes, including Carlson’s. But on Thursday, the onslaught still wasn’t over. Fire crews continued to stage in his backyard, while hot spots puffed smoke.
“It cannot be overemphasized the weather conditions we are in right now,” said Cal Fire Chief Ken Pimlott. “We are a long way from being out of this weather event. In some cases the worst could be yet to come.”
To the south, two other fires erupted Thursday.
The Lilac Fire badly damaged a training facility for elite thoroughbred horses and, by evening, it had blackened 4,100 acres along Old Highway 395 in the town of Bonsall, 45 miles north of San Diego. Homes in the area as well as Sullivan Middle School and Bonsall High School were evacuated.
The fire, which broke out at 11:15 a.m., prompted Gov. Jerry Brown to declare a state of emergency in San Diego County.
Hundreds of elite thoroughbred race horses sprinted away from flames as the fire tore through the San Luis Rey Downs training center near Bonsall.
The animals, some of which are worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, were set free and encouraged to run away as flames engulfed the center.
Not all made it. Trainers estimated that at least a dozen had died, possibly far more.
The Liberty Fire also blackened 220 acres near the city of Murrieta, in Riverside County.
The Creek Fire, near Sylmar and Lakeview Terrace in Los Angeles County, was only 20 percent contained by late Thursday after destroying 15 structures. Two firefighters sustained minor injuries in the fire, which had burned 15,323 acres and was threatening 2,500 homes.
Four homes were ruined and 12 others were damaged in the Skirball Fire in the ritzy Bel-Air neighborhood of Los Angeles, which by Thursday had blackened 475 acres and was 20 percent contained. One firefighter was treated for burns on the neck as the blaze raced near the Getty Center and UCLA, where classes were canceled.
The Getty Center, which was saved, was being used Thursday as a base for out-of-town fire crews that need a place to rest, eat and sleep.
“The No. 1 priority is that people do not lose their lives,” said Los Angeles Fire Chief Ralph Terrazas. Referring to the 44 lives lost during fires that swept through Wine Country in October, he said, “We’ve seen up north how that can occur.”
Terrazas said his department planned to fly drones over burned areas of Los Angeles County in an attempt to get a full accounting of the damage. He urged people to heed evacuation orders.
“We can replace the house,” he said. “We can’t replace people.”
The Rye Fire in Santa Clarita in Los Angeles County was 25 percent contained Thursday morning and had not grown overnight from 7,000 acres.
The disaster overtook the lives of many in Southern California. Samantha Lawhon drove her parents back to their home in Ojai on Thursday afternoon, the day after it was saved by firefighters.
The trio stood on the road next to a grove of avocado trees, watching the Thomas Fire inch along the hillside. The hollow thud of propane tanks exploding could be heard in the distance. Cyprus trees burned one by one.
Days before, Lawhon had to evacuate her own home in Ventura. She and her husband drove their RV to a Target parking lot with their dogs, cats and six fish stored in a water pitcher. When their evacuation order was lifted, her parents joined her in Ventura.
“The fire is burning way up there,” Lawhon said. “We’ve gotta get moving again.”