(Reuters) - Dani Hahn was terrified as she watched dozens of firefighters racing to light a small blaze that they hoped would clear enough space to halt the giant wildfire advancing on her rose farm at the foot of Southern California's Santa Ynez Mountains.

The owner of Rose Story Farm in the seaside city of Carpinteria saw her trampled roses and avocados and felled citrus trees as "small prices" to pay to ensure her farm did not suffer more than the scorching it received on Tuesday from the Thomas Fire, one of the state's largest ever wildfires.