LOST HILLS, Calif. (KERO) — A wildfire that erupted Thursday near Lost Hills grew from just a few hundred acres to several thousand acres in only a matter of hours, prompting a major firefighting response as crews worked to contain fast-moving flames fueled by wind and dry vegetation.
According to Kern County Fire Department officials, what began as a small vegetation fire quickly expanded as strong winds pushed flames through dry grass and brush across the landscape.
"It's in light fuel, grass and brush, and those tend to put off a lot of heat and move quickly," said Jeremy Ruiz with Kern County Fire. "When we had multiple wind shifts, that caused the fire to move with the wind."
Fire officials said the fire grew rapidly when winds aligned with available fuel, allowing it to make a fast run across open flatlands and into the surrounding hills.
While the fire moved quickly through flatter areas, officials said the terrain crews are now facing presents a different challenge.
"What we're dealing with now is actually some of the steeper terrain, and it is more difficult because we can't get some of the heavy equipment back up into those really deep ravines," Ruiz said.
As a result, fire crews have adjusted their strategy, using helicopters, hand crews, hotshot crews and wildland engines to access hard-to-reach areas. Firefighters are building containment lines and using aircraft to cool hot spots so crews can move in safely on the ground.
Another initial concern involved oil lines in the area. Ruiz said a swift response and defensible space around those locations reduced some of the department's biggest concerns.
Although the area is not heavily populated, evacuation orders were issued for some residents.
"We did have some homes, some ranch homes, towards the south end of the fire," Ruiz said. "Those were our major concerns last night. We had a lot of resources that were surrounding those homes, doing structure protection."
Ruiz said the goal is to surround the most active edge of the fire and prevent the kind of rapid growth seen during the fire's initial push.
"We're able to divert all those extra resources that came in overnight to surround and get a handle on that so the fire doesn't have the ability to now grow into a larger scale," Ruiz said.
So far, no major highways have been impacted by the fire.
Officials said winds will continue to be a factor in the area, but they hope the large number of resources on scene will help keep the fire in check.
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