Firefighters on Thomas Fire save hundreds of homes in Montecito area

Above: 3-D map of the west end of the Thomas Fire in the Santa Barbara and Montecito area showing the perimeter at 12:30 a.m. PST December 17, 2017.

(UPDATED at 1:46 a.m. PST December 17, 2017)

Firefighters on the 269,000-acre Thomas Fire in Southern California have had good days and bad days since it started December 4, but in an epic battle Saturday they saved hundreds of homes in the Montecito area east of Santa Barbara. The Ventura County Fire Department Public Information Officer referred to it as a “BIG firefight to hold their line”.

Here are conditions experienced by TCU strike team 9441C this morning. The strike team was successful in protecting the structures in the area and worked with Vallecito fire crews to help extinguish portions of #ThomasFire. pic.twitter.com/M2V9x49NnE

— CALFIRE TCU (@CALFIRETCU) December 17, 2017

The Incident Management Team announced Sunday that the updated total of homes and commercial structures destroyed is 1,558.

The west end of the Thomas Fire is burning on the mountain slopes in the Los Padres National Forest above Santa Barbara and Montecito but it has worked its way out of the Forest to the periphery of Montecito.

Map of the Thomas Fire — Map of the west side of the Thomas Fire. The red line was the perimeter at 12:30 a.m. PST December 17, 2017. The white line was the perimeter on December 10. Click to enlarge.

The huge blaze is now the third largest in the recorded history of California.

The winds on the west end of the fire Sunday will be out of the southwest or northwest and relatively light, but the east side could experience strong Santa Ana wind conditions — northeast winds of 25 to 40 mph with gusts to 60 mph while humidities will lower to 10 to 15 percent. The entire area is under a Red Flag Warning.

map Thomas Fire december 17 2017 — Map of the Thomas Fire. The red line was the perimeter at 12:30 a.m. PST December 17, 2017. The white line was the perimeter on December 10. Click to enlarge.

#Thomasfire: This morning the resources at briefing were honored by the presence of the widow of Cal Fire FE Cory Iverson who wanted to encourage us to not give up on this unprecedented firefight. Our citizens deserve nothing less! @VCFD, #countyofsb, #RSG, #readyventuracounty pic.twitter.com/UjX7xhc3av

— VCFD PIO (@VCFD_PIO) December 17, 2017

Here are the latest stats from the Incident Management Team”

#ThomasFire– A Bombardier 415 Superscooper makes a water drop Sunday morning on hot spots along the hillside east of Gibraltar Road. pic.twitter.com/rPKp5asdDA

— SBCFireInfo (@EliasonMike) December 17, 2017