California’s Wildfire Now Largest in State History
The blaze known as the Thomas fire in Southern California is now the largest in the state’s recorded history, fire officials said Saturday evening.
The Thomas fire has scorched 273,400 acres, or about 427 square miles of coastal foothills and national forest.
Thomas Fire is now the largest wildfire in California history, with today's Burned acreage at 273,400 acres, 427 Square miles, with 65% containment. The Record Was Previously Held By The #cedarfire That Burned In San Diego County In Oct 2003 And Burned 273,246 Acres #cawx
— NWS Los Angeles (@NWSLosAngeles) December 23, 2017
That makes the Thomas fire 154 acres larger than the 2003 Cedar fire in San Diego that killed 15 people, officials said.
Thousands of firefighters and fleets of aircraft have been battling the Thomas blaze since Dec. 4. A firefighter and a woman fleeing the blaze died.
Days of unrelenting hot, gusty winds drive it through Ventura neighborhoods, incinerating entire blocks, and threatened the wealthy enclave of Montecito. (Read more from “California’s Wildfire Now Largest in State History” HERE)
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