By Melissa Etehad, Louis Sahagun, Ruben Vives, Joseph Serva and Sonali Kohli
The first fire-related fatality (click here for video) from a series of wildfires that have covered Southern California in smoke and ash was confirmed Friday, authorities said.
Virginia Pesola, 70, of Santa Paula, was found dead in a car that had been involved in a crash along an evacuation route in a burn area of the Thomas fire in Ventura County on Wednesday night. According to the county medical examiner, Pesola's cause of death was blunt force trauma with terminal smoke inhalation and thermal injuries....
