The deadly Thomas fire which has destroyed more than 700 homes in California is now the largest blaze in the state’s recorded history.
The wildfire has burned more than 1000sq km – an area greater than New York City, Brussels and Paris combined.
It broke out in Santa Paula in early December and has moved west towards the coast, one of several major fires in California in recent months.
Thousands of firefighters have been deployed to bring it under control.
Most of California’s largest wildfires have been recorded this century. According to scientists, the warming climate and spread of buildings into wilderness areas have contributed.
The Thomas fire slowly eclipsed previous record-setting blazes, finally overtaking the 2003 Cedar fire in San Diego County, which burned 273,246 acres.
It follows a series of deadly fires in the state’s wine country in October that burned more than 10,000 homes and killed more than 40 people.
The Thomas fire has destroyed more than 1,000 buildings and claimed the life of one firefighter – Cory Iverson, a father of one from San Diego whose wife was expecting another child.
It is now moving slower because of rain and less wind.
State fire agency Cal Fire says the Thomas fire is now 65% contained and expected to continue to slow. Controlled burns by firefighters may cause some temporary expansion, it said.
Seven of California’s 10 largest fires on record have occurred since 2000. Two were in the 1970s and the earliest was in 1932 – the Matilija fire which, like the Thomas fire, burned through Ventura County.
California Governor Jerry Brown has said that devastating wildfires fuelled by climate change are “the new normal”.
He said vast fires, such as the ones that have ravaged southern California in recent days, “could happen every year or every few years”.
“We’re facing a new reality in this state,” the governor said.
Jerry Brown made the comments after surveying the damage in Ventura County, north of Los Angeles.
Thousands of firefighters have been battling the fires since December 4.
Jerry Brown, a Democrat who has attacked the Trump administration’s stance on climate change, said: “We’re facing a new reality in this state, where fires threaten people’s lives, their properties, their neighborhoods, and of course billions and billions of dollars.
“With climate change, some scientists are saying southern California is literally burning up.”
The largest wildfire – known as the Thomas Fire – burned close to 150,000 acres, an area of land roughly the size of Chicago, Reuters reported.
On December 9, firefighters began to make progress in containing the blaze.
Six large wildfires, and some smaller blazes, erupted on December 4 in southern California. Fanned by high winds, they swept through tens of thousands of acres in a matter of hours.
The fires have been driven by extreme weather, including low humidity and parched ground.
California authorities issued a purple alert – the highest level warning – amid what it called “extremely critical fire weather”.
The largest of the blazes, the Thomas fire in Ventura County, spread as far as the Pacific coast and swept across 180 square miles.
About 5,700 firefighters were brought in to battle the brushfires, with some drafted in from neighboring states to help.
President Donald Trump issued a state of emergency to “help alleviate the hardship and suffering that the emergency may inflict.”
Hundreds of buildings have been destroyed and vast areas of land have been badly scorched.
Three firefighters were injured and one death was reported after a 70-year-old woman was found dead in her car on an evacuation route.
Nearly 200,000 residents were evacuated from their homes, with many forced to flee in the middle of the night as the flames rapidly spread.
There are fears the blaze will seriously hit California’s multi-million dollar agricultural industry.
About 90% of US avocados are grown in California, and much of the state’s crop has been wiped out.
The strong winds subsided on December 9 and firefighters finally made some progress in containing the fires.
However, forecasters expect the winds to pick up again on December 10 meaning they are under pressure to extinguish them quickly.
Elsewhere, several evacuation orders have been lifted and residents are beginning to return home to assess the damage.
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