KCFD Holds Press Conference on Borel Fire

Borel Fire burns though at least 30,000 acres of land and is continuing to grow. Officials are working to contain the fire and ask residents to evacuate if told to do so.

• As of Saturday afternoon, there are three fires surrounding the Kern River Valley with the Borel fire being the largest — burning a total of 31,980 acres.
• Andrew Freeborn with the Kern County Fire Department says although they have a staff of 1,200 personnel, the fire is so unpredictable it’s unsure as to when the fire will be contained.
• Freeborn confirmed Saturday afternoon that the Borel fire was heading southeast toward Thomson Canyon however that may change.

From the Kern County Fire Department, to the Sequoia National Forest and the California Inner Agency Incident Management. These are just some of the agencies who were at Saturday's press conference.

As of now, there are three fires around the Kern River Valley with the Borel fire being the largest.

Officials were able to confirm that not only did the fire triple in size Friday night, but the community of Havilah was impacted the most.

"The Borel fire — we haven't had a fire in that exact footprint since the early 90's and so she found that area hasn't burned in a while and when you align the low RH's the high winds you know triple digit weather we've been dealing with the past 10-12 days,” sad Chief Deputy for the Kern County Fire Department Dionisio Mitchell. “It all lined up for a perfect storm there.”

Photos we received from Havilah show the damages however the official status is unclear.

Officials say high winds are the cause for the rapid spread of the fire which is what making it hard to contain.

"Those control lines are not established well enough for us to call them containment lines,” said Andrew Freeborn with the Kern County Fire Department. “So, this fire is continuing to grow, we’re throwing everything at it, we're building control lines across the backside of it around the sides of it, we're actively trying to pinch this fire off."

Freeborn says although they have a staff of 1,200 personnel, the fire is so unpredictable it's unsure as to when the fire will be contained.

Along with the rapid spread, Freeborn says another concern are people not evacuating when told which can put a strain on fire crews.

"They're making it so that so that firefighters have to stop fighting fire and then go find them and rescue them,” said Freeborn. “That is taking us away from stopping this fire and we want to stop this fire.

Those who are still in the Kern River Valley can stay informed by downloading the genesis app to know where the fire is and if you need to evacuate or you can call 211 for that same information.

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