California Fire 2017 Updates: Thomas Fire Almost Contained, Firefighters Claim
Firefighters announced that Thomas Fire is almost under control.
The Ventura County Fire Department confirmed on Twitter that the third largest fire in the history of California is currently 50 percent contained after burning 271,000 acres of land in 14 days.
ABC News cited that the weather within the region started to improve since the Santa Ana winds began to lower down to 30-35 mph gusts. The report also mentioned that the meteorologists predicted that the areas affected by Thomas Fire will have cooler temperatures and heightened humidity through Tuesday. This means that the weather conditions will work well for the firefighters' favor.
According to reports, the Thomas Fire already turned 1,313 structures into ashes and caused over 104,000 people to evacuate their homes within the Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties in Southern California. It is currently 912 acres short of dethroning 2012's Rush Fire, the second largest wildfire that was ever experienced by the state that burned down a total of 271, 911 acres in California and 43, 666 acres in Nevada.
One of the victims of the Thomas Fire in Ventura told CNN that the areas caught by fire looked like a war zone. "It's the scariest thing I've been through in my entire life," Ventura resident Patricia Rye stated. She also revealed that she had no time to take any belongings with her when she had to evacuate from her apartment complex.
Aside from destroying properties, the ongoing Thomas Fire also claimed two lives. One of them is the 32-year-old firefighter Cory Iverson who died due to burns and smoke inhalation while on duty to contain the wildfire. The other one was the 70-year-old Virginia Pesola from Santa Paula, who passed away in a car accident while trying to evacuate from the fire.
The firefighters are expected to continue with their battle against the ongoing Thomas Fire in the coming days.