Cedar Fire claims first structures
Blaze 5 percent contained
KERNVILLE — A lightning storm sparked two small wildland fires Monday afternoon, pulling valuable resources away from the Cedar Fire’s perimeter.
The storm struck around 3 p.m., igniting fires on Rattlesnake Ridge and Parker Peak, just south of the Tule River Indian Reservation.
Cindy Thill, fire information officer for the Sequoia National Forest (SNF), tracked the storm from her computer in Kernville.
“I looked at the map and found in excess of 30-down strikes [of lightning],” she said. “Sometimes you get some fires out of that, sometimes you get zero.”
According to Forest Public Affairs Officer Denise Alonzo, the lighting bolts could be seen from the SNF’S Western Divide District office in Springville, off Highway 190. “We did have quite a few light-
ning strikes,” she said, adding that aircraft had yet to reach the two new fires due to high-wind gusts. “We expect the fires were a result of the lightning.”
Alonzo said the fires could pull a handful of crews from the Cedar Fire’s perimeter.
That fire, burning north of Alta Sierra and west of Kernville, has thus far consumed nearly 20,000 acres since it was first reported last Tuesday.
More than 500 homes have since been evacuated, with nearly double that listed as threatened by forest service officials.
As many as 1,600 people in 13-small communities were under mandatory evacuations orders and evacuations were recommended for a half-dozen others, said fire spokesman Naaman Horn. He said the fire is within a mile of the community of Alta Sierra in Kern County.
The blaze is only 5 percent contained.
Just before 2 p.m. on Monday, the Kern County Fire Department reported aerial observers spotted damage to fewer than ten structures in the Spear Creek area, near Sugarloaf Peak and Panorama Heights in Tulare County.
Forest officials could not specify whether the structures were homes or out-buildings and estimated that it would most likely be several days before the extent of damage was ascertained, citing stretched resources, difficult terrain and unfavorable flight conditions.
Crews have been limited in their efforts battling a fire located in rough, steep terrain, thick with dead vegetation from bark beetle, drought and forest overgrowth.
“It’s like a brown forest out here, you can’t even see the green trees because of all the brown,” said Fire Officer Thill.
At Kernville, Thill said firefighters in the area were preparing for the worst if the fire changed from a vegetation and terrain driven fire to one that is driven by wind.
“Thank god we haven’t had the wind,” she said, adding the gusts can create huge downdrafts that result in the fire burning in every direction. “With these thunderstorms, we are all just clenching our fists and looking for where the wind is going to pop up. No one knows what’s happening; the wind is the one thing that has not been in the equation.”
Thill noted the Erskine Fire near Lake Isabella, which began in late June and destroyed 280 homes, was wind driven.
More than 1,800 personnel have been dispatched to the Cedar Fire, including 28 hand crews, 171 engines, 15 aircraft, 18 dozers and 25 water tenders.
The cost to date to extinguish the fire is $11.4 million.
On Thursday, the American Red Cross of the Central Valley opened a full shelter at Granite Hills High School, at 1701 E. Putnam Ave., for residents affected by the fire.
Volunteers will be on hand to provide lodging, meals, health services and comfort for evacuees.
Monday afternoon, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency authorized the use of federal funds to assist California as it combats the Cedar Fire.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.