Sacramento Bee
TWO FAST-MOVING BRUSH FIRES IN KERN COUNTY, California, have raced through 17,000 acres and destroyed at least 40 homes. The most destructive of the two fires is near the town of Tehachapi and has claimed more than 30 houses and still threatens 150 more. So far, 2,300 people have been evacuated. Currently it is about 20% contained.
That fire began Tuesday afternoon around 2 pm and the high winds whipped it up and sent it moving so fast that the residents had no time to gather any belongings before fleeing for their lives. This early video report from AP interviews some of the evacuees and shows the initial damage:
The other fire began Monday afternoon and covers a much larger area, but it is sparsely settled and only 8 or 10 dwellings have been destroyed so far. As of this morning it was only 5% contained.
The Associated Press reports:
The winds rise as the sun burns off a dewy inversion layer of cooler air, and that could cause the fires to flare up, said Jeff Barlow, a senior forecaster with the National Weather Service in Hanford.
“It’s like opening a flue to a fireplace and that’s when you see these things really run,” he said.
Sacramento Bee
Years of drought in the Tehachapi area, along with tree diseases and bugs among the foothills’ pine and chaparral, have turned the area into a “tinderbox,” said county fire Battalion Chief David Goodell.
KGET-TV Ch. 17 has more plus a video HERE.
The AP has a later video report:
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Also on FireGeezer…
- Light Plane Crash Triggers Grass Fire – September 5, 2011
- Nevada Brush Fire Claims 27 Homes – January 20, 2012
- The Brushfire Beat Goes On – August 17, 2011
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