‘This is going to be a fight for a while’: Firefighters work vigorously to contain the Borel Fire
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — Firefighters are working tirelessly battling the Borel Fire and evacuate affected communities, but with more than 38,000 acres burned and counting it is proving to be a difficult fight.
As the Borel Fire spreads at an intensely rapid pace, more than a thousand firefighters are rushing into action to contain the blaze.
How you can help people affected by Borel Fire
“It’s growing so quickly it’s even difficult to update the size of the fire that’s what we’re dealing with here that’s how extreme this fire is,” said Kern County Fire Department Capt. Andrew Freeborn.
With more than 38,000 acres burned and 0% containment as of Saturday evening, and evacuation orders placed for several communities, local, state, and federal agencies came together to address concerns surrounding the fierce inferno.
“This is going to be a fight for a while,” said Kern County Fire Chief Deputy Dionisio Mitchell. We haven’t had a fire in that exact footprint since the early ’90s so she found that area that hasn’t been burned in a while and when you align the low [relative humidity], the high winds, triple-digit weather we’ve been dealing with in the last 10 to 12 days, it all aligned for a perfect storm in there.”
Firefighters are aggressively working on containment but that is dictated by the weather.
Evacuation orders in place for Borel Fire; more than 38,000 acres burned
“We’re going to do everything in our power to stop that growth, if possible, from happening, but it’s nature. Nature sometimes dictates how the day is going to be,” said California Interagency Incident Team 14 Commander Jim Snow.
As the Borel Fire spreads and destroys what’s in its path, residents are left with uncertainty about what is left.
“They come in, they’ve been evacuated, and they have no idea what’s going on with their residence so there is a lot of uncertainty right now,” said American Red Cross Bakersfield Executive Director Hector Vasquez.
But those working to contain the Borel Fire say they are doing everything to battle this blaze.
“These firefighters that live here, this is their home. The firefighters that are coming to help us, it’s their home while they are here and you have that feeling that you want to do everything you can to stop this fire,” Freeborn said.
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