Southern California's Thomas fire was force of nature

VENTURA, Calif. - The fire left the mountains ghostly gray, vast slopes frozen still but for dust devils wandering the ash.

Fire crews were conducting a last big operation in the high country, burning a ridge above Hartman Ranch to keep the main fire from mushrooming into a road-less wilderness where condors soar.

The Thomas fire had already torn through disparate points of Southern California - beach enclaves, orange groves, rural canyons, golf retreats and suburban cul-de-sacs. Flames ignited fan palms against the Pacific surf and cedars on high granite peaks.

Residents along the flame front had seen fires come out of the mountains many times before - at horse ranches in Ojai, at farmworker camps in Fillmore, at Tuscan estates in stands of olive trees in Montecito.

But never have they all been threatened by a single fire.

The Thomas fire became the largest ever recorded by size in California at more than 281,900 acres as of Friday. It had raced from the urban edge to deep into the Los Padres National Forest like no fire before it, covering huge distances unobstructed and mostly unseen. The neighborhoods and cities that