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Three fires are burning over 80,000 acres across Southern California area this morning, ravaging homes, shutting down freeways, and forcing reidents out of their homes.
“These are days that break your heart,” says Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti.
A statewide fire map from CalFire shows the three largest blazes active now.
In Ventura County, the massive Thomas Fire has grown to 65,000 acres and remains.
In the San Fernando Valley, the Creek Fire continues to burn east of Sylmar and has now consumed 11,377 acres. The map includes a filter that allows viewers to see the perimeter of the immense blaze, which reaches back into the Angeles National Forest and down into Lakeview Terrace and Sunland.
The Rye Fire near Santa Clarita has burned 7,000 acres and is 5 percent contained. The other two fires are not contained at all.
As many as 150,000 Valley residents have been evacuated because of the Creek Fire. Approximately 1,300 households in the Santa Clarita area have been evacuated because of the Rye Fire, according to the Los Angeles Times.
2017 Statewide Fire Map
The CalFire map shows the trio of major fires, and also includes smaller fires, including the 150-acre Skirball Fire near the Getty Museum that has caused the closure of a section of the 405 and the roughly 100-acre fire burning in San Bernardino off the 215 Freeway.
Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Ralph Terrazas says combating so many fires at once is tasking resources. His department has deployed a strike team to the Thomas Fire, 400 firefighters to the Creek Fire, and 350 to Skirball. All of its bulldozers are at the Creek Fire, so he’s had to borrow equipment from other fire departments to help build a fire line at Skirball.
“We are stretched thin,” he says.
Fire officials have said that the fires have been fueled by Santa Ana wind conditions and an excess of dry brush due to a lack of rainfall that usually comes this time of year. The National Weather Service expects Santa Ana wind conditions to continue into Friday.
