Reporting from SANTA BARBARA — Thousands of firefighters battling the massive Thomas fire braced for the return of powerful winds Friday that could again endanger communities, even as they mourned the death of a colleague killed on the fire lines.
Ten days after it broke out, the Thomas fire on Thursday became the fourth-largest in the state’s modern history, consuming nearly 250,000 acres and destroying hundreds of homes.
Firefighters have taken advantage of a two-day lull in winds to increase containment to 35%, but the blaze has continued a march north from Ventura and Santa Paula along the coast of Santa Barbara County.
Officials also set some controlled backfires in the hills above Montecito, hoping to burn off brush that would serve as fuel if the Thomas fire got into the area.
A procession in Santa Paula for fallen firefighter Cory Iverson. (Video by Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
Forecasters predict a new blast of powerful sundowner winds on Friday, which could push the fire from the mountains back into the direction of homes. Another round of Santa Ana winds are expected Saturday and Sunday.
“Every day that goes by the fuels get drier and drier and drier,” said Tim Chavez, a battalion chief and fire behavior analyst with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. “We have really bad weather coming. It is going to be a very challenging few days.”
The mountains north of the coast produce notoriously unpredictable and dangerous conditions for firefighters, Chavez said. 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.
Stuart Seto, a weather specialist with the National Weather Service, added that the winds will be especially powerful in mountain areas and will “really start blowing the fire around again.”
“What it does is carry the embers farther down and can create more fires,” he said.
On Sunday, winds are expected to return to offshore conditions, Seto said.
Firefighters braced for the winds on a day of loss.
Ken Pimlott, the director of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, announced that apparatus engineer Cory Iverson, 32, died on the fire lines Thursday.
Iverson was assigned to the blaze as a part of a strike team from Cal Fire’s San Diego unit. He started with Cal Fire in 2009. He is survived by his wife, Ashley, and their 2-year-old daughter, Evie. The family is expecting a second daughter this spring.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with Cory’s family and all of his friends and co-workers throughout the department and the fire service,” Pimlott said.
He said an accident review team would investigate the circumstances of Iverson’s death
“While we continue to process this tragic loss, we must keep our focus on the fire. The fire fight in front of us continues to go on,” Pimlott said. “The communities we are protecting are depending on us, and we will not fail.”
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John Bain and Brandon Baker try to stop a fire from burning a stranger’s home in Ventura.
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A brush fire moving with the wind sends embers all over residential neighborhoods north of Ventura.
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A family packs up and evacuates as a brush fire gets closer to their home in Ventura.
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John Bain and his friends, all from Camarillo, came to help as brush fires move quickly through residential neighborhoods in Ventura.
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Strangers band together to help put out a palm tree on fire and stop it from burning homes.
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The Hawaiian Gardens apartments burn in Ventura.
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Residents help with the fire attack on Buena Vista Street in Ventura.
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Residents watch the Thomas fire on Prospect Street in Ventura.
(Michael Owen Baker / For the Times) 9/73
Firefighters are deployed to battle the fire in a Ventura neighborhood.
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A chimney is all that stands of a home as a brush fire continues to threaten other homes in Ventura.
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Remnants of a home as a brush fire continues to threaten other homes in Ventura.
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A home burns on a hillside overlooking Ventura.
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Palms are consumed in the Thomas fire.
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Emma Jacobson, 19, center, gets a hug from a neighbor after her family home was destroyed by fire in Ventura.
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Olivia Jacobson, 16, wipes tears as she looks at her family’s home, destroyed by the brush fire on Island View Drive in Ventura.
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Aerial view of the Thomas fire in Ventura County.
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Noah Alarcon carries a cage with the family cat while evacuating from Casitas Springs.
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Smoke from the Thomas fire crosses over Lake Casitas near Ojai.
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A Ventura County firefighter battles a blaze on Cobblestone Drive near Foothill Road in Ventura.
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Ventura County Firefighter Aaron Cohen catches his breath after fighting to save homes along Cobblestone Drive near Foothill Road in Ventura.
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Aerial view of homes burned to the ground in the Thomas fire in Ventura County.
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A home between Via Baja and Foothill Road burns in Ventura.
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Amanda Leon and husband Johnny Leon watch as firefighters fight to save homes along Cobblestone Drive near Foothill Road in Ventura.
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Chino Valley firefighters fight to save a home along Cobblestone Drive near Foothill Road in Ventura.
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Embers continue to burn at sunset Tuesday in a home on Ridgecrest Court at Scenic Way in the Clearpoint neighborhood of Ventura.
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A firefighter battles the Thomas fire along Highway 33 in Casitas Springs.
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Firefighters try to protect homes from the Thomas fire along Highway 33 in Casitas Springs.
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A firefighter battles the Thomas fire along Highway 33 in Casitas Springs.
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Edward Aguilar runs through the flames of the Thomas Fire to save his cats at his mobile home along Highway 33 in Casitas Springs in Ventura County.
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Jeff Lipscomb, left, Gabriel Lipscomb, 17, center, and Rachel Lipscomb, 11, look for items to recover from their burned home in Ventura.
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A traffic collision temporarily clogged lanes on the northbound 101 Freeway between Solimar and Faria Beaches as the Thomas fire burned in the hills.
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The Thomas fire burns towards the 101 Freeway and homes between Solimar and Faria Beaches.
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Fire personnel keep an eye on the Thomas fire on Toland Road near Santa Paula.
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A train on the Rincon coast passes a burning hillside from the Thomas fire.
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The Thomas fire burns along the 101 Freeway north of Ventura on Wednesday evening.
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A firefighter battles the Thomas fire in the town of La Conchita early Thursday.
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A resident cries as the Thomas fire approaches the town of La Conchita early Thursday.
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Burned palm trees are left standing between the 101 Freeway and Faria Beach as the Thomas fire reaches the Pacific Ocean.
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Firefighters battle Thursday to protect the resort city of Ojai from encroaching flames.
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Casey Rodriquez helps a friend move belongings after the Thomas Fire destroyed most of an apartment building on North Kalarama in Ventura.
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A burnt-out bus near Maripoca Highway.
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The Thomas fire burns in the Los Padres National Forest, near Ojai.
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A huge plume of smoke rises north of Ventura as seen Sunday afternoon from the Ventura pier, as the Thomas fire threatens parts of Carpenteria and Montecito.
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The Thomas Fire burns in the Los Padres National Forest, near Ojai, Calif. on Friday.
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Residents react as they watch the Thomas Fire burn in the hills above La Conchita at 5 am Thursday moning.
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Mary McEwen and husband Dan Bellaart prepare to evacuate their home on Toro Canyon Road in Montecito as the Thomas fire burns.
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Carpenteria resident Chris Gayner, right, photographs a plane in the hills of Carpenteria.
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From left, residents Michael Desjardins, his neighbor Patty Rodriguez, daughter Mikayla, wife Veronica, mother in law Amanda Buzin, and son Mikey keep an eye on the Thomas fire in Carpenteria.
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Mary McEwen cheers as she sees fire crews make their way up a hill past her home on Toro Canyon Rd. in Montecito.
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Dan Bellaart and wife Mary McEwen comfort each other in the backyard of their home that includes an avocado ranch on 9 acres of land on Toro Canyon Road in Montecito, as the Thomas fire burns in the background.
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Carpinteria resident Jay Molnar, 55, mouth and nose protected against the smoke, views flames glowing in the hills above the city on Dec. 11, 2017.
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Sacramento firefighters battle a blaze in Toro Canyon in Carpenteria at dusk Tuesday.
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Josh Acosta, superintendent with Fulton Hotshots looks for ways to fight fire consuming a structure threatening two homes high up Toro Canyon in Carpenteria at dusk Tuesday.
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A motorcade passes on tHighway 126 carrying the body of a Cal Fire engineer Cory Iverson, who died Thursday morning while battling the Thomas Fire.
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Santa Paula City officials, Police and Firefighters salute from a bridge as a motorcade passes on the Santa Paula Freeway 126 carrying the body of a Cal Fire engineer Cory Iverson.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 56/73
Forest Service crews cut and clear dense brush for contingency lines off of East Camino Cielo in the Santa Ynez Mountains above Montecito and Santa Barbara to help stop the Thomas fire from advancing.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 57/73
A hotshot crew from Ojai marches towards their assignment to protect structures on East Mountain Drive in Montecito.
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Firefighters monitor the flames Saturday from a staging area near Parma Park in Montecito.
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Flames slowly make their way down a valley behind a home in Montecito.
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Flames whip around power lines as they move through Sycamore Canyon on Saturday, threatening structures in Montecito.
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Smoke billows over Santa Barbara as the Thomas Fire continues to threaten the area on Saturday.
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Bill Shubin, deputy fire chief of the Santa Rosa Fire Department checks on flames burning near homes north of East Mountain Drive in Montecito.
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A fire truck pulls responds to fires burning near homes on East Mountain Drive in Montecito.
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Brian Good, from US Forest Service, leans forward against the wind, and holds up a Kestrel to measure wind speeds up to 50 mph on Gibraltar Road in Montecito.
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A plume of smoke moves south as winds as high as 50 mph blow down Gibraltar Road on the west fork of Cold Spring Trail in Montecito.
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Flames and a big plume of smoke threaten homes on Gibraltar Road near Gibraltar Rock, outside Montecito.
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The sun rises as fire crews prepare for another day of fighting the Thomas Fire, in Montecito, Calif., on Sunday.
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An aircraft makes a water drop over a hot spot up in the mountain range at Gibraltar Rock near Montecito, Calif. on Sunday.
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Humboldt County firefighters Bobby Gray, left, hoses down smoldering flames inside a destroyed home, as Kellee Stoehr, right looks on, after the Thomas Fire burned in Montecito, Calif. on Sunday.
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A home on Park Hill Lane was destroyed by the Thomas fire in Montecito, Calif.
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Humboldt County firefighters Lonnie Risling, left, and Jimmy McHaffie, right, spray down smoldering fire underneath the rubble of a home that was destroyed by the Thomas Fire, in Montecito, Calif., Sunday.
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Fire crews help the Behrman family retrieve their family’s personal belongings out of their burned home, in Montecito, Calif., on Sunday.
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In the foreground of the ridges that were burned by the Thomas Fire, Rusty Smith stands outside his home that survived the flames that were kicked up by Saturday’s wind event and threatened his home in Flores Flats on Gibraltar Road, near Montecito.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) The Thomas fire has now surpassed the size of the monstrous Zaca fire, which scorched Santa Barbara County in 2007, said Dave Zaniboni, a spokesman for the Santa Barbara County Fire Department.
Firefighters hope the Zaca burn scar will help them fight the Thomas fire’s growth along its western edge.
The state of California began keeping records of wildfire acreage in 1932. Though other large fires raged on the West Coast before then, those records are less reliable, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
The Thomas fire has destroyed more than 900 homes in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties since it began Dec. 4 near Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula. In its first day, the fire spread southwest, toward Ventura, and northwest, eventually hugging Ojai before pushing to the Santa Barbara coast.
Virginia Pesola, 70, of Santa Paula was found dead in a car that had been involved in a crash last week along an evacuation route in a burn area of the Thomas fire in Ventura County. According to the county medical examiner, Pesola’s cause of death was blunt-force trauma with smoke inhalation and thermal injuries.
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