The Thomas Fire
Source: Kyle Grittot/CNN.com
On December 4, 2017 Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties began to burn in what would become the largest wildfire in California’s recorded history. The wildfire originated at two points. One near Thomas Aquinas College, the name of which the fire was eventually given, and the other in Upper Ojai about 30 minutes after the first began. With help from strong Santa Ana winds that reached speeds of up to 60 miles per hour, the fires merged the same night and quickly spread to Ventura county and beyond. Over a quarter million people lost power because of the fire and in some instances, firefighters could not access water from fire hydrants because the power outages caused a lack of water pressure. Governor Jerry Brown soon declared a state of emergency in Ventura County and some 900 firefighters were deployed to combat the fire, including firefighters from Oregon, Arizona, Washington, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Colorado and Utah.
The fire ended up causing more than $120 million in property damage. By the time it was contained, it had destroyed more than 1,000 structures, burned over 200.000 acres of land, damaged hundreds of structures, forced thousands of people to evacuate the area and killed more than 17 people, either directly by the fire or indirectly due to mudslides caused by the fire.
On January 12, 2018 the fire was declared 100% contained but the work is far from over as the process of rebuilding ensues after such extensive damage.
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By Chelcee Bunkley
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