The fires throughout southern California have now forced over 212,000 people to leave their homes and have no sign of slowing down.
There are currently six major fires plaguing southern California: the Thomas Fire (Ventura County), the Skirball Fire (West Los Angeles), the Creek Fire (Sylmar), the Rye Fire (Santa Clarita), the Liberty Fire (Riverside County) and the Lilac Fire (San Diego).
The Thomas Fire is the largest of the fires, which has burned 132,000 acres of land since Monday – well over two times larger than the city of Washington, D.C. – and has now spread into Santa Barbara County, resulting in a mandatory evacuation for the people in the city of Carpinteria. A total of over 88,000 people have been forced to abandon their homes as a result of the Thomas Fire.
The Lilac Fire started on Thursday evening and has already blazed over 4,000 acres of land. Several people, including firefighters, have suffered from burns and smoke inhalation from the Lilac Fire and 20 buildings have been destroyed in its wake. Evacuations have already been issued.
None of the fires are anywhere close to being contained. The Creek Fire is the fire that is the closest to being contained at 40%, followed by the Rye Fire (35%), Skirball Fire (30%), Thomas Fire (10%), Liberty Fire (10%) and Lilac Fire (0%).
The fires could potentially worsen over the weekend, as the Santa Ana winds are forecasted to intensify to 40 to 60 miles per hour on Saturday, putting southern California at a heightened risk of fires.
President Trump has declared a state of emergency for the people afflicted by the fires, thus providing the state and localities with federal assistance to deal with the fires. California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) has already declared a state of emergency in Los Angeles, Ventura and San Diego.
