11 Facts About Thomas Fire

Thomas Fire was a massive wildfire that affected Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties, and one of multiple wildfires that ignited in southern California in December 2017.

Thomas Fire continued moving north up the valley throughout the day.

The fast-moving, wind-driven wildfire continued past the area that had burned in the 2015 Christmas Day Solimar Thomas Fire, before crossing the 101 Freeway to the Solimar Beach area, on Pacific Coast Highway, along the Pacific Ocean.

The Thomas Fire was generating massive pyrocumulus clouds, which were gathering heat from the flames below, although the unstable column of air could collapse at any time, which would generate sudden wind shifts near the fire and pose a major hazard to firefighters.

The Thomas Fire was estimated to be at least the 10th most destructive wildfire on record in California.

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Thomas Fire officials noted that many areas had been "Moonscaped", an event in which the brush has been so completely burned that it was left looking like a barren and blackened landscape, resembling the surface of the Moon, which is indicative of extreme fire behavior.

However, the weakening of Santa Ana winds in the evening allowed firefighters to make progress on containing the fire, with firefighters able to keep the Thomas Fire from burning southward into the majority of nearby homes, and they attacked the western front of the fire.

The Thomas Fire had ignited about 30 oil seep fires within the fire perimeter, at the Upper Ojai area.

The Thomas Fire destroyed multiple expensive homes in the Montecito area.

The expansion of the Thomas Fire prompted more evacuation orders near Santa Barbara, with mandatory evacuation zones extending into Carpinteria and into the eastern outskirts of Santa Barbara.

Inter-agency Thomas Fire Command mapped at least 50 chaparral fires of various sizes that burned in the Thomas Fire area since 1950.