In December 2017, the [[Thomas Fire]] erupted and burned across Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. The [[Santa Paula Airport]] became a [[Helitack|helibase]] for CAL FIRE by the morning after the fire started. The airport was outfitted as a base of operations for the [[Aerial firefighting|water-dropping helicopters]], and closed to all of the regular [[general aviation]] operations. About 23 helicopters began operating out of the airport, along with the necessary support crews, [[Tank truck|tanker trucks]], and other equipment. In addition to water, brightly colored [[fire retardant]] was dropped on the fire from the air.<ref name="VCS 2017-12-8" /> During the first couple of weeks, there had been limited ability to use fixed-wing air tankers and VLAT (very large air tankers) to drop fire retardant, due to the smoky skies.<ref name="earlier fires">{{cite web|url=http://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/state/california/fires/article189539044.html|title=Earlier wildfires may hold key to stopping giant Thomas Fire|author=Giana Magnoli|publisher=[[The Tribune (San Luis Obispo)|The Tribune]]|date=December 13, 2017|access-date=December 14, 2017}}</ref> After having been in the air all day, the helicopters undergo maintenance at night. Other activities included a daily briefing each morning, lunches, and distributing maps.<ref name="VCS 2017-12-8">{{cite news|url=http://www.vcstar.com/story/news/local/communities/santa-paula/2017/12/08/santa-paula-airport-transformed-into-cal-fires-helibase-battle-thomas-fire/935085001/|title=Santa Paula Airport transformed into Cal Fire's 'helibase' to battle Thomas Fire|newspaper=[[Ventura County Star]]|first=Mike |last=Harris|date=December 8, 2017|access-date= December 11, 2017}}</ref>
Many aircraft and their operations moved to other airports, such as [[Camarillo Airport|Camarillo]], which remained open to normal activities, while being involved in firefighting efforts. Amid all this, the Santa Paula airport was able to make one of its [[hangar]]s available for cats after one of the local [[animal shelter]]s was filled to capacity, and for one local family with its dogs for three nights, on its premises as well.<ref name="VCS 2017-12-8" />
