Thomas Fire is now 132,000 acres; more evacuations ordered

Update Friday, 6:30 a.m.

Ventura County fire officials are reporting that the Thomas Fire is now 132,000 acres with 10 percent containment. “Opportunities to validate acreage has allowed us to increase accuracy and thus the number of acres increased,” officials tweeted.

Original post

The Thomas Fire burning in Ventura County grew to 115,000 acres Thursday and remained 5 percent contained, according to an update from Cal Fire.

More than 430 structures have reportedly been destroyed and an additional 85 have been damaged, and those numbers are expected to grow in the coming days as the assessment continues.

According to Cal Fire, more than 2,500 fire personnel from 28 total fire crews were battling the Thomas Fire as of 6:30 p.m. Thursday.

The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department issued expanded mandatory evacuation orders and a voluntary evacuation warning Thursday evening that include parts of Carpinteria, Summerland and unincorporated Santa Barbara County areas.

The mandatory evacuation areas include the area north of Highway 192, from Highway 150 on the east to Santa Monica Road on the west, and to East Camino Cielo on the north, according to county officials.

Voluntary evacuation warnings were expanded to include “the area bounded by Highway 192 on the north, Highway 101 on the south, Santa Monica Road on the east, and Ortega Ridge Road and its extension through East Valley Road and Ladera Road on the west up to East Camino Cielo,” according to the county.

Other Santa Barbara County areas under voluntary evacuation warnings include:

▪  All areas from the 5500 block of Casitas Pass Road (Highway 192) east to the county line to include Lillingston Canyon and Cate Mesa, and all addresses north to the county line.

▪  All addresses along the east side of Bailard Avenue from Highway 101.

▪  All areas south of Highway 101 to the coast and east of Dump Road to include all of the Bates Road and Rincon areas. There are evacuation shelters set up in Ventura, Oxnard, Ojai, Santa Paula, Fillmore and on the UC Santa Barbara campus.

Updates on other fires burning in Southern California:

▪  The Creek Fire in Los Angeles County has reportedly burned 15,323 acres and is 20 percent contained. The Rye Fire, also in Los Angeles County, has burned 7,000 acres and is 25 percent contained.

▪  The Lilac Fire in San Diego County has burned 4,100 acres and no update on containment was available Thursday night.

▪  The Liberty Fire in Riverside County has burned 300 acres and is 5 percent contained, Cal Fire said.

Noozhawk.com editor Tom Bolton contributed to this report.

This story was originally published December 7, 2017 at 8:36 PM with the headline "Thomas Fire is now 132,000 acres; more evacuations ordered."