{"id":41134,"date":"2016-06-25T06:21:48","date_gmt":"2016-06-25T10:21:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=41134"},"modified":"2016-06-25T06:27:48","modified_gmt":"2016-06-25T10:27:48","slug":"deadly-kern-county-wildfire-grows-to-46-square-miles-and-its-barely-contained","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=41134","title":{"rendered":"Deadly Kern County wildfire grows to 46 square miles \u2014 and it’s barely contained"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"la-me-erskine-fire-pictures-20160624\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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Matt Hamilton, Alexia Fernandez and Ruben Vives
\nLos Angeles Times<\/p>\n

LAKE ISABELLA, Calif. \u2014\u00a0Near this man-made lake about 45 miles northeast of Bakersfield, a 2-acre fire has grown to an inferno that stretches over 46 square miles, killing two people and destroying at least 100 homes and other structures.<\/p>\n

The frantic effort to control the raging Erskine fire in the southern Sierra Nevada has drawn firefighters and emergency crews from across the state to the rural towns along the southern part of Lake Isabella.<\/p>\n

The blaze\u2019s path has been marked by ruin: charred fields, burnt-out cars, exploded propane tanks. The flames leveled homes \u2014 save for their brick chimneys \u2014 and at least three firefighters have been injured. Gov. Jerry Brown issued a\u00a0state of emergency for Kern County.<\/p>\n

Late Friday, as officials announced that the fire was only 5% contained, firefighters were focused on defending the rural Kelso Valley and the remaining cluster of towns near Lake Isabella, trying to stop the blaze from its eastward march despite the challenges posed by summer weather.<\/p>\n

\"AlexAlex Thurman, 20, wanders along South Kelso Valley Road, checking on neighbors’ homes as they burn. (Marcus Yam \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/h5>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hot.\u00a0It\u2019s dry. It\u2019s windy,\u201d Kern County Fire Capt. Tyler Townsend said, calling it a trifecta of forces that have made the area ripe for a wildfire. \u201cIf you haven\u2019t evacuated yet, be ready to go at a moment\u2019s notice.\u201d<\/p>\n

The fire began at the junction of Erskine Creek Road\u00a0and Apollo Way in Lake Isabella shortly before 4 p.m. Thursday and moved quickly, aided by\u00a0dead trees, high winds and low moisture, said Kern County Fire Department Capt.\u00a0Mike Nicholas.<\/p>\n

From there, wind pushed the blaze up steep, rugged terrain and over a ridge, down toward Squirrel Mountain Valley and its neighboring town, Mountain Mesa,\u00a0located along State Route 178. The\u00a0highway runs\u00a0near the southern rim of the lake and is the recommended evacuation route.<\/p>\n

“It was insane,” said Linda Good, who lives near the spot where the fire began and watched the flames race over the mountain ridge. “It just shot up.”<\/p>\n

At Kern Valley Hospital in Mountain Mesa, on the other side of the ridge, the plumes of smoke came first. Then, within minutes,\u00a010-foot flames were\u00a0at the hospital\u2019s doorstep, according to Bob Easterday, facilities director for the hospital.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy maintenance guys were fighting the fire with hoses,\u201d he said, because firefighters just couldn\u2019t keep up as the fire leapfrogged terrain.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe wildfire still rages in the mountains after flames raced through a South Lake neighborhood. (Marcus Yam \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/h5>\n

The fire was burning so fast, \u201cit literally blew right past the hospital,\u201d hospital CEO Timothy\u00a0McGlew said. \u201cThe only thing I can call it is a miracle\u201d that no hospital structures were damaged.<\/p>\n

The blaze swept across 11 miles in 13 hours while firefighters raced to try to protect neighborhoods, fanned by winds that reached gusts of up to 40 mph in the higher ridges. Tall grass that was nourished during\u00a0this winter\u2019s El Ni\u00f1o rains had\u00a0dried in the spring and provided plenty of fuel, said Townsend, the fire captain.<\/p>\n

\u201cEmbers were being carried into the wind,\u201d Townsend added, describing how the blaze roared forward.<\/p>\n