Thomas Fire grows to 90,000 acres; winds could push it into Santa Barbara County

Update, 7 p.m.

The Thomas Fire has grown to 90,000 acres, according to a tweet from the Ventura County Fire Department public information officer.

Original story

The Thomas Fire could burn into Santa Barbara County when winds pick up again, and the evacuation zones expanded Wednesday morning to include Rincon Point, east of Carpinteria.

Forecasts have Santa Ana winds picking up Wednesday afternoon into Thursday or even Friday, which could cause the fire to grow rapidly as it did the first night, burning about 45,000 acres in five hours.

“The fire continues to burn actively with extreme rates of spread and long range spotting when pushed by winds,” Cal Fire officials said in a Wednesday morning update.

The National Weather Service issued a wind advisory and red flag warning for the Ventura area through 8 p.m. Friday, because of the elevated fire risk from predicted Santa Ana winds and low relative humidity.

The fire had blackened 65,000 acres as of Wednesday and made a run to the ocean, crossing Highway 101 near the Solimar Beach area.

Cal Fire reported 0 percent containment, 12,000 structures were threatened and 1,776 firefighting personnel were assigned to the blaze.

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This story was originally published December 6, 2017 at 1:14 PM with the headline "Thomas Fire grows to 90,000 acres; winds could push it into Santa Barbara County."