Thomas Fire

12/14/2017 (Permalink)

Thomas Fire continues to burn

"This fire is a beast and you're gonna kill it,” Martin Johnson, Santa Barbara County fire division chief, told fire crews. “I have no doubt."

As firefighters continue to gain a handle on the fire — which is the fifth-largest in state history — California fire officials offered a hint as to what may have ignited the Thomas and other destructive blazes that tore across Southern California last week.

It likely will take months for fire officials to determine the cause of the fires, but state officials have notified Southern California Edison that the utility’s equipment is under investigation. Power lines downed by high winds have been the cause of major brush fires in the past. The far smaller Skirball fire in Los Angeles was started by a cooking fire at a homeless encampment, officials said this week. But investigations into other fires are expanding, according to SCE.

“The investigations now include locations beyond those identified last week as the apparent origin of these fires,” the power company said in a statement. “SCE believes the investigations now include the possible role of its facilities.”

As a precaution last week, the utility shut off power temporarily to parts of Riverside County during high winds.

As of Tuesday, Edison said it was finishing restoring equipment damaged in the Liberty, Rye and Creek fires — replacing more than 300 poles with 200 more waiting. LA Times, Joseph Serna