Fanned by Santa Ana winds gusting up to 65 mph, the Thomas Fire swiftly expanded toward the Santa Barbara community of Monticeto on Saturday. The blaze rapidly grew by 8,500 acres forcing numerous evacuations and road closures, including the emptying of a zoo.

Tonight, winds are still fanning burning embers and lighting spot fires in the Monticeto area. This video shows a palm tree burning as sparks fly down a local street.

Montecito is one of Santa Barbara’s more affluent communities. But as of this report, all homes have so far been kept safe due to valiant firefighting efforts by the more than 8,000 personnel battling what has aptly been called a monster blaze. That said, night-time flare ups and spot fires continue to make this defensive effort extraordinarily difficult.

Totaling 267,500 acres by late Saturday, the fire was at the time the third largest in California history. That’s just 12,500 acres smaller than the Cedar Fire which burned through the San Diego area in 2003. Winds presently fanning the fire near Santa Barbara are expected to die down tonight through Sunday. However, Santa Ana gusts of up to 55 mph are expected to return to the Ventura side of the fire on Sunday — risking rapid expansion there.

The blaze is still just 40 percent contained. Its sprawling extent and predicted continued dry and windy weather conditions make it likely that the fire will ultimately exceed the size of the Cedar Fire over the coming days. Firefighters had hoped to get the fire under control by January 1, 2018. But conditions, which include the longest running red-flag warning on record, have made the fire very unruly and difficult to manage despite the amazing efforts of the largest fire fighting force ever assembled by California.

GOES 16 visible (red band) imagery shows smoke from the #ThomasFire flowing over the Channel islands this afternoon. #CAwx #CAfire #SoCal pic.twitter.com/iS45e9j4C8 — NWS Los Angeles (@NWSLosAngeles) December 17, 2017

Conditions associated with human-forced climate change are clearly a compounding issue. Various climate studies indicated that persistent ridging, above average temperatures, rising drought prevalence in winter, and unusually strong Santa Ana winds would increase fire danger for California as the Earth warmed. And this is the general state of affairs we now witness.

It’s a trend we see now. Large fires have become more prevalent in California. Fire officials now note that the fire season has grown in lock-step with warming to become a year-round affair. And thirteen of the twenty largest fires on record for California have occurred since the year 2000.