I have blogged about aerial wildland firefighting since 2009. I am not a firefighter and am not a pilot, just an interested bystander who wants to learn more and share what I learn here. Join me here as I blog on the aircraft and the pilots who fight wildland fires from the air in support of crews on the ground. I also blog on concerns affecting fire crews on the ground as well as other aviation and meteorology issues. Learn what it takes to do jobs that are staffed by the best of the best.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
West Fire in Kern County CA destroys 33 homes (7/27/10-8/2/10)
When I was in Vermont, NPR made a brief report on Morning Edition on July 28 about a wildfire burning near Tehachapi CA with references to residences being destroyed and tankers working the fire. I happened to have a telephone conversation the next day with a friend and former airtanker pilot about another matter when I brought up this short report that I heard on NPR. He told me that this was the West Fire (CA-KRN-WEST), that residences were destroyed, and yes there were a lot of tankers and helos working this fire. Since I had heard a brief report about this fire while I was in rural Vermont, I decided to write an article on the fire for my blog.
I found the news report (from July 28, I believe) from a local ABC affiliate from a search of the internet yesterday. Then I went to the wildland fire hotlist forums to see what they had to say. The hotlist thread is a long one, and I found a link to this incident on a Kern County Fire Dept. webpage where they report that the fire was contained on August 2 (along with pictures, a map, and archived reports) The final tally:
1,658 acres
23 structures destroyed
41 outbuildings destroyed
fire started: Tuesday, July 27, 3 PM PDT
fire contained: Monday, August 2
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