Thomas Fire, 5th-Largest In Modern California History, Shows Few Signs Of Slowing

Updated 12:25 p.m. ET

As Monday dawned in California's Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, firefighters found themselves still locked in a desperate struggle with what has become the fifth-largest wildfire in modern state history. The Thomas Fire, which for a time Sunday was ratcheted down just 10 percent contained, has ticked back upward to 15 percent containment — but authorities are warning that the dry, gusty winds in the area "will continue to promote significant fire growth."

All told, the fire covers a span of more than 230,000 acres — tens of thousands of acres larger than all of New York City combined. Nearly 1,000 homes and other structures have been either damaged or destroyed. The cost of the fire has crested $38 million, according to fire officials, and with roughly 18,000 more structures threatened, that cost is likely to increase.

The news surrounding the smaller fires currently raging elsewhere in Southern California offered a significantly more positive outlook. Authorities say the Skirball, Creek, Rye and Lilac fires all are more than 80 percent contained, and some — like the Creek — are inching closer to full containment. The Liberty Fire that has been burning in Riverside County has been fully contained.

More than 4,000 firefighters are now engaged in battling the flames.

Yet the weather is doing little to help their fight against the Thomas Fire, which is roughly a week old at this point. High temperatures, low humidity and blustery Santa Ana winds promise a dangerous medley for the mountainous region in the days to come, likely encouraging "extreme fire behavior [that] will continue to hamper control efforts," Cal Fire said in a Monday morning bulletin.

The forecast has prompted mandatory evacuations for the Central Coast areas of Carpinteria, Summerland, Montecito and Santa Barbara — some of which haven't been affected by wildfires in decades.

The biggest concern is for Carpinteria, where the fire was moving west above the city in an area of very dry vegetation that hasn't burned in about 100 years, Steve Swindle, a spokesman for the Ventura County Fire Department was quoted as saying by the Los Angeles Times.

The Associated Press reports that officials "handed out masks to residents who stayed behind in Montecito, the wealthy hillside enclave that's home to celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey, Jeff Bridges and Rob Lowe."

"This is a menacing fire, certainly, but we have a lot of people working very diligently to bring it under control," Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown said during a Sunday evening news conference, according to Reuters.

About 5,000 residents were under evacuation orders in the area, and 15,000 homes were threatened.

The University of California, Santa Barbara, has rescheduled its final exams for after the new year and has delayed the start of its winter quarter, citing deteriorating air quality and power outages.

"We deeply regret the stress that this has caused," the university's chancellor and senior administrators said in a letter to students, "not just for those on campus, but also for our families here in California, across the country, and for some around the world."

In the meantime, firefighters are redoubling their efforts in the region.

"A lot of these guys have fought a lot of fires in the past few months and are fatigued," Fire Capt. Steve Concialdi, spokesman for the Thomas Fire, told Reuters.

Gov. Jerry Brown warned on Saturday that the wildfire is not a freak incident. The long-running drought in California that has quite literally added fuel to the fire has extended wildfire season.

"This is the new normal," Brown said as he surveyed damage from the Thomas Fire. "We're about ready to have firefighting at Christmas. This is very odd and unusual."

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