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The first fire-related fatality from a series of wildfires that have covered Southern California in smoke and …
First fatality confirmed from Southern California wildfires
Current Time 0:59
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Duration Time 1:56
The
first fire-related fatality from a series of wildfires that have
covered Southern California in smoke and ash was confirmed Friday,
authorities said.
Virginia
Pesola, 70, of Santa Paula, was found dead in a car that had been
involved in a crash along an evacuation route in a burn area of the
Thomas fire in Ventura County on Wednesday night. According to the
county medical examiner, Pesola's cause of death was blunt force trauma
with terminal smoke inhalation and thermal injuries.
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"The
death involved a traffic incident during active fire evacuation," the
medical examiner wrote in a news release. She had been reporting missing
after the evacuation.
Pesola
was a victim of the Thomas fire, a 143,000-acre monster blaze that
started about 6:30 p.m. Monday and raced across Ventura County mountains
and foothills as hurricane-force wind gusts steered the flames.
Bill
Murphy, a public information officer with the California Department of
Forestry and Fire Protection, said firefighters had a successful day
fighting flames on the southern edge toward the coast as well parts of
Ojai thanks to favorable wind patterns, weakened Santa Ana winds and
improved fire lines established by crews.
By
Friday evening, the Thomas fire was at 10% containment. As a result,
Murphy said evacuations for most of the city of Ventura and Santa Paula
were lifted. Firefighters continued to encounter difficulty on the east
side of the blaze above Fillmore.
Firefighters used helicopters to drop water in that portion to try to contain the fire.
The
Thomas fire is one of six blazes in Los Angeles, San Diego and Ventura
counties destroyed more than 500 structures, sent 212,000 people fleeing
and left thousands without power.
In
northern San Diego County, the Lilac fire continued to burn Friday
morning, holding at 4,100 acres from the night before with no
containment. More than 1,000 firefighters were battling the blaze, which
roared through Bonsall and into Oceanside late Thursday.
At least three people were injured and 25 horses were killed at a thoroughbred training center. At least 85 structures have been destroyed, including a number of mobile homes, authorities said Friday.
President
Trump approved a California disaster declaration Friday morning. He
ordered federal aid to the area and put the Department of Homeland
Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency in charge of
disaster relief efforts.
A
view of the Rancho Monserate Country Club community, where many homes
were burned to ground when the Lilac Fire swept through Bonsall. (Irfan
Khan / Los Angeles Times)
1 / 36
The National Weather Service extended a red-flag fire warning for much of the region to Sunday.
"Be
prepared because as we remember the Cedar fire in 2003, a fire that
starts in the back country … can go anywhere at any time, particularly
when those winds shift," San Diego County Supervisor Dianne Jacob said
Friday morning. "We're not out of the woods yet. We need to stay
vigilant and be prepared."
Of
all the fires in Southern California, the Thomas fire is still the
largest, spanning from Santa Paula to the coast. It was 10% contained as
of Friday morning, authorities said.
The blaze approached Santa Barbara County triggering that county's emergency operations center to activate.
Smoke from the Thomas fire reduced visibility at times from a mile to less than half a mile in Ventura on Friday morning.
The
winds Thursday night were "down into the teens and 20s as opposed to
previous nights we had winds in the 30 and 40 mph" range, said Ventura
County Fire Capt. Scott Dettorre.
Throughout Ventura County, more than 400 structures have been destroyed, most in the city of Ventura, authorities said.
At
a morning briefing Friday, crews battling the Thomas fire were reminded
to be sensitive of residents who were returning to destroyed homes.
"Treat them like you would treat your community," they were told.
Firefighters
also were warned of the dangers of changing wind patterns and to be
extra cautious of their surroundings. Erratic wind patterns Friday could
change the direction of flames, placing fire crews at higher risk of
getting caught without an escape route.
"The
Santa Ana winds are predicted to die down by the afternoon, and with
that, the breeze from the ocean will pick up," said Ventura County Fire
Department spokesman Scott Quirarte. "Firefighters will need to pay
attention to the winds and the type of terrain they're on."
The
Thomas fire is mostly burning at either end of the perimeter, Dettorre
said. Northeast Santa Ana winds continued pushing flames west toward the
La Conchita area, while topography is offering fuel to the fire on the
eastern end, he said. The fire already has encroached into the Los
Padres National Forest above Ojai and could do the same on the eastern
end near Fillmore, he added.
In
downtown Ojai, which is under a voluntary evacuation, most restaurants,
boutiques and wine-tasting rooms have been closed for three days.
John
Wilson, 80, was one of 118 people taking refuge in the shelter at
Ojai's Nordhoff High School. Like many others, he was saddled with
unanswered questions about the fate of his home, just a mile west of the
shelter.
"I
sure am ready to go home," said Wilson, who has lived in Ojai more than
three decades. "Having no idea what's going to happen next is a
brand-new experience for me."
Santa
Barbara County Fire Department officials said the Thomas fire had yet
to reach their county Friday morning, but said residents should remain
prepared.
The
air quality in Carpinteria is considered "hazardous," said Polly
Baldwin, medical director at the Santa Barbara County Public Health
Department. She urged residents to wear face masks when outside.
At
the Casitas Shopping Center in Carpinteria, just above the Santa
Barbara County line, more than 100 people stood in a line that stretched
from Albertsons to a corner doughnut shop, and waited to collect masks.
Organizers said they have 3,000 masks they plan to hand out, for both
adults and children.
By
midnight Thursday, San Diego County officials confirmed that they had
called more than 100,000 phone numbers to issue evacuation orders or
warnings through AlertSanDiego, a regional notification system.
At least 20,000 in San Diego County were without power as of 10 a.m. Friday morning, said Jacob, the county supervisor.
As of about 12:30 a.m. Friday, approximately 578 people had checked into evacuations centers, a county spokeswoman said.
At
the Rancho Monserate Country Club in Fallbrook, a swath of upscale
mobile homes bordering a golf course already had been reduced to ash and
twisted metal.
In Los Angeles County, firefighters on Thursday night took advantage of the calmest winds they had seen in days.
The
15,323-acre Creek fire near Sylmar was 40% contained as of Friday
morning, and no more structures were threatened, authorities said.
At
least 63 homes and other structures have been destroyed and an
additional 45 damaged, though officials expect that number to increase
as damage assessment crews continue to survey the area, said L.A. City
Fire Capt. Branden Silverman.
As of 4 p.m. Thursday, residents were allowed back into their neighborhoods, except Limekiln Canyon, Silverman said.
The
Skirball fire in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Bel-Air was 30%
contained and at 475 acres as of Friday morning. Six houses have been
destroyed and a dozen damaged in the fire, authorities said. Some
residents have been allowed back into their homes.
On
Thursday night and Friday morning, "they had flare-ups here and there …
but they were able to quickly extinguish them and knock those down,"
said Los Angeles City Fire Capt. Cody Weireter.
As
of Friday morning, the Liberty fire in Murrieta was at 300 acres and
60% contained. One structure and seven outbuildings were destroyed,
authorities said.
On
Friday morning, Southern California Edison said that more than 11,000
of its customers were without power because of fires throughout the
region.
The
dry, gusty winds that have fanned a half-dozen wildfires in Southern
California will continue through next week, the National Weather Service
said.
A
red flag warning — a combination of extremely low relative humidity and
wind speeds that indicate a serious threat if a fire were to occur —
are in effect through 8 p.m. Sunday, said meteorologist Tom Fisher.
"Monday
and Tuesday, things should be kind of dull, fortunately," Fisher said.
The wind speeds expected Friday are a far cry from the hurricane-force
gusts that drove a wall of fire into Ventura on Monday evening and
downslope toward hundreds of thousands of residents in Los Angeles
County the following morning.
According
to forecasters, 25 to 35 mph winds in Ventura County around the Thomas
fire will continue to push the fire south and southwest, with occasional
45 mph gusts.
Winds
are forecast to be even calmer inland, where they will move at 15 to 25
mph, with 35 mph gusts in the San Gabriel Valley, Fisher said.
Farther
south in Orange, Riverside and San Diego counties, winds on Friday had
slowed tremendously from Monday and Tuesday, when gusts clocked in at
more than 80 mph. Winds were down to between 30 and 50 mph for cities
between Riverside and Palomar.
Etehad
reported from Ventura, Sahagun from Ojai and Vives from Carpinteria.
Times staff writer Laura Nelson and the San Diego Union-Tribune
contributed to this report.
Twitter: @Sonali_Kohli.
UPDATES:
7:10 p.m.: Updated with more details on fire progress.
6:45 p.m.: Updated with new acres for fire burn.
4:15 p.m.: This article was updated with the first confirmed fire fatality.
3:45 p.m: This article was updated with new fire information from Santa Barbara County.
3:10 p.m.: This article was updated with the Thomas fire reaching Santa Barbara County.
1 p.m.: This article was updated with information from Carpinteria.
10:30 a.m.: This article was updated with information about the Thomas fire and Lilac fire.
9 a.m.: This article was updated with the president's declaration.
This article was originally published at 8:40 a.m.
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