California wildfire crews gain edge as last evacuation orders lifted

LOS ANGELES - 22 December 2017: Crews battling to subdue the remnants of a sprawling Southern California wildfire held their ground on Thursday against a resurgence of winds that proved weaker than expected, allowing officials to lift all remaining evacuation orders and warnings.

The so-called Thomas fire, California's second-largest on record, has charred 272,200 acres (110,155 hectares) of coastal mountains, foothills and canyons across Ventura and Santa Barbara counties northwest of Los Angeles, fire officials said.

The fire's spread was largely halted this week as crews extended containment lines around 60 percent of its perimeter, hacking away thick chaparral and brush before it could ignite and torching some vegetation in controlled-burning operations.

Much of their progress was made during three days in which diminished winds, cooler temperatures and higher humidity levels allowed firefighters to go on the attack against a blaze that had kept them on the defensive for the better part of two weeks.

A new bout of strong winds had been forecast to accelerate to 50 miles per hour (80 km per hour) on Thursday morning, stoking extreme fire conditions again, but turned out to be less forceful than expected, authorities said.

"On the beach side, we didn't really see the winds that were predicted," said Brandon Vaccaro, a spokesman for the firefighting command. He added that containment lines already carved around populated areas "held really well."

More than 1,000 homes and other structures were destroyed and well over 100,000 people were forced to flee their dwellings at the height of the firestorm, but abandoned communities were gradually reopened to residents this week.

On Thursday, authorities lifted the last evacuation notices still in effect for Santa Barbara and Ventura counties.

"This has been a nightmare of a fire for a lot of people," Santa Barbara County Battalion Fire Chief Chris Childers said during a community meeting on Wednesday night.

Only one fatality directly related to the fire has been reported, a firefighter who succumbed to burns and smoke inhalation in the line of duty last Thursday.

As the fire threat waned, the number of personnel assigned to fight the blaze has been scaled back to about 5,600, down from 8,500 at the fire's peak.

In terms of burned landscape, the Thomas fire ranks second only to California's largest wildfire on record, the 2003 Cedar blaze in San Diego County, which consumed 273,246 acres (110,579 hectares) and killed 15 people.

The Thomas fire erupted Dec. 4 and was fanned by hot, dry Santa Ana winds blowing with rare hurricane force from the eastern deserts, spreading flames across miles of Southern California's rugged, drought-parched coastal terrain.

Forecasts called for a return of mild Santa Ana gusts late on Thursday, "but it shouldn't be anything that really challenges us," Vaccaro said.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection has estimated the cost of fighting the blaze at more than $167 million. The cause has not been determined.

The Thomas fire came two months after a spate of wind-driven blazes in Northern California's wine country incinerated several thousand homes and killed more than 40 people, ranking as the deadliest rash of wildfires, and one of the most destructive, in state history.