Thomas Fire: 234,200 Acres
The Thomas Fire has now become the fifth largest fire in California history. Firefighters continued to make good progress Monday and the weather is expected to be more helpful today.
- Thomas Fire details as of 6:30 a.m. this morning:
- The fire has consumed approximately 234,200 acres
- 20% contained
- 1% humidity
- 794 structures destroyed
- 187 structures damaged
- 100,000 residents remain under mandatory evacuation orders with another 30,000 under evacuation warning
- No change in the mandatory and voluntary evacuation orders previously issued for parts of Carpinteria, Summerland, Montecito and the unincorporated areas of Santa Barbara County
- Intermittent power outages may continue throughout the day and possibly into tomorrow
- Fire resources:
- 6,946 firefighters
- 125 hand crews
- 912 fire engines
- Air tankers arriving today
- 27 helicopters
- 67 dozers
- Cost = $49 million and climbing
- Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital and Cottage Children’s Medical Center are operating business as usual (as are our other campuses)
- Emergency generators remain “locked on” so as not to be affected by any potential loss of power
- We will provide N95 masks to all inpatients as they are being discharged, at the discretion of the patient. We are unable to provide more than one mask per patient discharge. Masks are not being offered to outpatients as they are able to obtain them at County distribution sites, which can be found HERE (thank you to our CMNH partner Costco, in Goleta, for being one of these sites)
- As a reminder, the hospital and Grotenhuis Pediatric Clinics have air filtration systems that filter out air particulates so there is no need to wear a mask while in the buildings. Unfortunately we are unable to eliminate the smell of smoke.
- Employee Health recommendations to help with the effects of smoke outside the buildings:
- Drink plenty of water
- The use throat lozenges can help with a scratchy throat
- The use of eye drops can help with stinging
For more information on the fire, visit www.readyventuracounty.org (Ventura County), www.countyofsb.org/thomasfire.sbc#update (Santa Barbara County) or follow our local news outlets, including the Santa Barbara Independent www.independent.com and KEYT Channel 3 news station www.keyt.com.