UPDATE (8:17 a.m., Aug 1): Evacuation warnings and shelter-in-place orders for the community of Hart Flat were lifted following a vegetation fire off Highway 58 on Mon, July 31.
The fire began east of the Highway 58 intersection with Highway 223 around 4 p.m. According to the Kern County Fire Department, the vegetation fire burned approximately 50 acres before forward progress was stopped.
An evacuation warning was put in place for the Hart Flat area, along with evacuation orders for multiple homes nearby. Those warnings have been lifted.
There is no official word on the cause of the fire.
The Kern County Fire Department, which had already issued Evacuation Orders for certain residences in Hart Flat, California close to the area of the Beale Fire, has now issued an Evacuation Warning for all of Hart Flat.
According to incident monitoring application Watch Duty, observers are saying the fire's forward progress has been stopped at this time, but is still considered uncontained. The Beale Fire has burned approximately 53 acres so far.
According to Kern County Fire Captain Andrew Freeborn, the cause of the fire has not yet been determined.
