Thomas Fire grows to 256,000 acres; ‘wind event’ expected Saturday morning

The Thomas Fire grew to 256,000 acres on Friday and remained 35 percent contained, according to an update from Cal Fire.

Since the fire began 12 days ago, 1,009 structures have been destroyed, 240 have been damaged and 18,000 are still threatened.

More than 8,300 fire personnel have been assigned to the blaze, which on Thursday became the fourth-largest wildfire in California history.

With gusty overnight winds forecast for the coastal mountains on Saturday morning, firefighters are preparing for perhaps their biggest test in the battle to stop the Thomas Fire from burning farther west and continuing to menace communities on Santa Barbara County’s South Coast.

The primary battle is being fought in San Ysidro Canyon behind Montecito, where hand crews on Friday spent the day carving out a containment line up the rugged west side of the canyon to Camino Cielo on the ridge of the Santa Ynez Mountains.

They were assisted by a fleet of helicopters dropping loads of fire retardant on the dense and extremely dry vegetation.

“Our direct attack is working,” said Chris Childers, a battalion chief with the Santa Barbara County Fire Department. “We have gotten to the creek. (The fire) has not crossed it.”

What is worrying incident commanders on the 256,000-acre blaze is a “wind event” expected to hit in the early morning hours Saturday, bringing strong northwest winds that could drive the flames downslope into populated areas.

The National Weather Service issued a Red Flag Fire Weather Warning for the Santa Barbara County mountains beginning at 2 a.m Saturday, and continuing until 10 p.m. Saturday.

This story was originally published December 15, 2017 at 8:23 PM with the headline "Thomas Fire grows to 256,000 acres; ‘wind event’ expected Saturday morning."