SHAFTER, Calif. (KERO) — “I heard a super loud explosion. Didn't think much of it, another Fourth of July firework, you know, whatever. And then about five minutes later, I see some people at the corner yelling, oh my gosh, a fire. And I look over tons of smoke,” said Ben Hess.
A fire in the Gossamer Grove neighborhood in Shafter captured the attention of many on Sunday night as residents in the neighborhood sprang in to action to ensure the scenario on remained a few burned bushes.
Hess has lived in the area for about five years and said he was worried it was a car accident where a car had caught on fire. When he realized that the fire was in the bushes near a home, he ran to back to his home to find a fire extinguisher.
“I had one in my backyard, run back and by the time I'm back here, there's gotta be 10 neighbors with fire extinguishers,” said Hess recounting the early moments of the scene.
Of the handful of people working to extinguish the fire, Devon Rodriguez, owner of Those Guys Auto Detailing was one of them.
Rodriguez said he was getting ready to go grocery shopping, and when he saw the fire, his instincts kicked in.
"I saw that there was a huge fire. And I just, it was just instinct. I just ran back to my van. I thought, I have 100 gallons of water in my van and a way to dispense the water," said Rodriguez. "It was just pure instinct. I wanted to help. You know, I didn't want anybody to lose their property. I didn't want a tree to catch on fire here and then fall into someone else's yard and then burn their house down, because that would just be devastating, and I would not want that anyone to have that happen to anybody."
Residents we spoke to and online say they heard the loud bang shortly before the fire started and say they believe the fire was started by a firework. We've reached out to the Kern County Fire Department to see if they've determined how the fire started, we have not heard back as of news time.
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