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Thomas Fire Challenges Firefighters Near Fillmore & Rose Valley, But Containment Still Rises To 35%

Thomas Fire flares up outside of Fillmore Thursday

Thursday was a rough day for firefighters, who had to deal with some major issues along parts of the Thomas fire.

There wasn’t a lot of major growth in acreage, with it reaching 249,500 acres, but firefighters had to work hard in some areas to keep the fire from rapidly expanding.

In the mountains northeast of Fillmore, there was a flareup which prompted officials to cancel plans to lift mandatory evacuation orders for the area. The fire has been threatening the Sespe drainage area.

There was also a flareup in Rose Valley, northeast of Ojai, but a planned controlled burn help get the situation under control.

And in Santa Barbara’s front county, firefighters say they were able to continue to keep the fire northwest of Montecito and Santa Barbara.

But, the weather forecast is a tough one, with increased wind in the forecast through the weekend. The bright spot is the containment figure, which despite everything went from 30% to 35% Thursday.

Lance Orozco has been News Director of KCLU since 2001, providing award-winning coverage of some of the biggest news events in the region, including the Thomas and Woolsey brush fires, the deadly Montecito debris flow, the Borderline Bar and Grill attack, and Ronald Reagan's funeral. 
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