Over the past 24 hours, the Thomas Fire increased by more than 10,000 acres, bringing the total to 252,000 acres.
While some of this increase was due to fire movement on the eastern side of the fire near Rose Valley and the Fillmore area, a significant amount of the growth was due to prescribed burn ‘firing’ operations.
The area of biggest concern remained the active fire burning towards the upper eastern side of San Ysidro Canyon.
In the early evening Thursday, flames could be seen in scattered parts of the canyon’s eastern flank and firefighters had been prepared to fire out parts of the lower canyon if needed to stop any downhill runs. Fortunately after a few brief flareups, things seemed to settle down.
As of 6 a.m. Friday, fire officials reported that there had been no significant movement of the fire down into the lower part of San Ysidro Canyon, and it appeared the fire had remained on the east side of the canyon.
Unfortunately, as light winds began to kick up when the sun came up, there were reports the fire had moved into the bottom of the canyon, crossed San Ysidro Creek, and were beginning to move up onto the western flank of the canyon.
Progress near the Santa Barbara County line
East of Romero Canyon, along Bella Vista Road near the top of Ladera Lane, crews burned out a section of highly flammable vegetation late Thursday afternoon.
Combined with previous firing operations further east, the addition of thousands of feet of hand lines and aerial drops, it appears that firefighters will be able to prevent any further expansion of the fire to the south from Romero Canyon to the Santa Barbara County line near Rincon Creek.
Though a great deal of mop up work will be needed to officially declare the area from eastern Montecito to the county line contained, it is an important first step in bringing an end to the threat South Coast residents have been under for the past week.
Backcountry attack
Crews were also active in the upper Santa Ynez River area near Pendola Station, adding bulldozer lines in the Agua Caliente area near the hot springs and beginning burn out operations along
the Camuesa Road.
While the fire had remained fairly inactive for several days, on Thursday flames moved north across the Pendola Jeepway and into the Agua Caliente Canyon watershed a quarter mile north of Pendola Station.
Thursday, ‘firing’ operations occurred mainly along Camuesa Road from Juncal to the Forest Service station to eliminate any possibility of the fire crossing it and heading down the river.
Firefighters plan on continuing ‘firing’ operations Friday on the east side of Agua Caliente Canyon from the hot springs down to Pendola Station to keep it from crossing and heading towards
Mono Creek, where the Rey Fire scar should be able to contain it if needed.
Ojai side still a concern
While most of the attention has focused on the Santa Barbara area the past week, there is concern the backcountry area north of the Topatopa Mountains may experience more fire growth.
This could be an extremely unfortunate situation given the winds predicted in the Ventura area for Friday night and Saturday.
In the past two days, the fire had begun to move north through parts of the Matilija Wilderness towards upper Sespe Creek and Highway 33, not too far from where the 20,000-plus-acre Wolf Fire occurred in 2002.
On Thursday night, the Thomas Fire crossed Tule Creek and was within two air miles of the highway. Should it cross, the western half of the Pine Mountain area would be in its immediate
path.
The fire also moved east of Rose Valley Thursday, and was close to reaching Sespe Creek just downstream from the trailhead leading into the Sespe Wilderness.
Radio traffic indicates that four air tankers have been redirected to that area in an effort to keep the fire from heading further down Sespe Creek or northwest towards the eastern half of Pine Mountain.
While the focus Thursday was keeping fire on the east side of San Ysidro Canyon, and still is Friday, there is also increasing concern of what could happen in the Santa Barbara and Ventura backcountry areas given the winds predicted for Friday night and Saturday.
— Noozhawk outdoor writer Ray Ford can be reached at rford@noozhawk.com. Click here for his website, SBoutdoors.com. Follow him on Twitter: @riveray. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
