Thomas Fire Was a Force That Could Not Be Stopped Because of Winds, Dry Brush

The fire left the mountains ghostly gray, vast slopes frozen still but for dust devils wandering the ash.

Fire crews were conducting a last big operation in the high country, burning a ridge above Hartman Ranch to keep the main fire from mushrooming into a road-less wilderness where condors soar.

The Thomas fire had already torn through disparate points of Southern California — beach enclaves, orange groves, rural canyons, golf retreats and suburban cul-de-sacs. Flames ignited fan palms against the Pacific surf and cedars on high granite peaks.

Residents along the flame front had seen fires come out of the mountains many times before — at horse ranches in Ojai, at farmworker camps in Fillmore, at Tuscan estates in stands of olive trees in Montecito.

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from KTLA http://ift.tt/2CkPM8P