The wildfires by the numbers
Santa Ana winds literally have been adding fuel to the fires.Here are the staggering numbers behind the blazes:
234,000 acres
That's the size of the Thomas Fire, the largest one ripping across Southern California. It started in Ventura County and is now moving across Santa Barbara County. At more than 234,000 acres, the Thomas Fire is the fifth-largest blaze in modern California history. It's torched an area larger than New York City. Other ongoing wildfires have destroyed nearly 260,000 acres in Southern California, officials said Tuesday.
$48 million
That's how much money has already been spent fighting the Thomas Fire, according to Ventura County. And the cost is sure to grow since the inferno was only 20% contained as of Tuesday morning.
25,000 homes threatened
At least 25,000 homes are threatened by five wildfires, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, known as Cal Fire.
1,000 structures destroyed
More than 1,000 structures have been wiped out, Cal Fire said Tuesday. It's not clear how many were homes and how many were businesses.
Nearly 9,000 firefighters
Nearly 7,000 firefighters were tackling the Thomas Fire alone. Almost9,000 remain on the line at all the fires. The Nevada Department of Corrections and Nevada Division of Forestry, which run conservation camps, have sent six trained crews of minimum security inmates to help. Thousands more firefighters — including some from Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Oregon, Utah and Washington state — were involved in battling the other wildfires.
85,000 power outages
Santa Barbara County has suffered intermittent (but widespread) power outages due to the Thomas Fire. Southern California Edison said that outages and surges had left up to 85,000 customers without electricity.
95,000 evacuees
At least 95,000 residents have been evacuated in Southern California, Cal Fire said Tuesday.
$10 billion
This year has been the costliest for wildfires in US history. Damages have topped $10 billion — and that was before the current fires began in Southern California.
CNN's Brandon Miller, Joe Sutton and Ray Sanchez contributed to this report.
Original Article
[contf] [contfnew]
CNN
[contfnewc] [contfnewc]
The post The wildfires by the numbers appeared first on News Wire Now.