734 lightning strikes hit Kern County causing wildfires that have burned thousands of acres
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — The start of the week saw a handful of wildfires burning in Kern County. On Tuesday morning, Kern County Fire Chief Aaron Duncan brought an update to County Supervisors.
“In total there were 734 lightning strikes in Kern County,” said Duncan. “These strikes resulted in over five large wildland incidents, burning over 31,000 acres and requiring eight evacuation warnings and orders to be placed.”
These included the Rancho, White, Hurricane, Soda, and Lost Hills fires. Duncan emphasized the department has its routine calls on top of wildfires, including structure fires, medical aids, and traffic accidents.
“Over the weekend we had over 400 incidents on top of the wildland fires we had,” Duncan said.
But Kern County resources weren’t enough. Chief Duncan made some calls and received help from Ventura, LA, and Orange county fire departments.
“In total they gave us one crew, four helicopters that were able to do night flying,” said Chief Duncan.
Cal Fire is also assisting in the Rancho and White fires. Duncan said resources ran so thin, at one point there were more open fire stations than staffed fire stations, but they moved quickly to keep everyone safe.
“We put an out call to everyone, ‘come back to work,'” said Duncan. “We canceled days off, we suspended vacations, and our Kern County firefighters showed up, staffed our engines, put reserve equipment in and protected the community of Kern County.”
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