*Editor’s note: As of August 3rd, The U.S. Forest Service and California Interagency Incident Management Team 11, along with the Kern County Fire Department and Kern County Sheriffs Department, has announced the following evacuation zones have been cleared:
Zone 739:
Genasys Zone KRN-739 has been split East and West at Caliente Bodfish Road. The eastern
portion, now KRN-739-A, will remain in an Evacuation ORDER. The evacuation order for the western
portion, now KRN-739-B, has been LIFTED. There are no further advisories for KRN-739-B.
Zone 740:
Genasys Zone KRN-740 has been split North and South at lower Thompson Canyon Ave. and Indian
Oak Road. The northern portion, now KRN-740-B, will remain in an Evacuation ORDER. The
evacuation order for the southern portion, now KRN-740-A, has been LIFTED. There are no further
advisories for KRN-740-A.
Zone 742 and 743:
The evacuation orders for Zone KRN-742 and KRN 743 have been lifted. There are no further
advisories for these zones.
Zones KRN 100-B, 102-B, 419, and 744:
Genasys Zones KRN-100-B, 102-B, 419, and 744 have all been restored to a normal status. There
are no further advisories in place for these zones.
As of this morning, August 2, the Borel Fire has burned nearly 60,000 acres with 47% contained across Kern County and had residents throughout the Kern River Valley forced to evacuate from their homes in the last week.
Borel Fire started on July 24 after a driver veered off the side of the canyon on Highway 178, according to California Highway Patrol. The man driving the vehicle died at the scene.
There are two evacuation shelters Red Cross has opened for people who need to evacuate from their homes due to the Borel Fire in Tehachapi and Ridgecrest.
“At our shelters we’re providing, you know, a safe roof over people’s heads, meals to eat, emotional support, and health services to anyone who needs it,” said Taylor Poisall, the Regional Communications Director of the American Red Cross of Central California.
Between the two shelter locations Red Cross are caring for about 40 people and dozens of pets and can expand that if needed.
Dave Wagner, a Red Cross volunteer spokesperson, has been at the Ridgecrest shelter location since the start of the fire. He said most of the people at the shelter evacuated from the Lake Isabella and Bodfish area.
In the Ridgecrest shelter there are about 27 people, in family groups, along with Animal Services helping with their 17 dogs and 24 cats.
Wagner has been to a lot of shelters in the past but while getting to know the families the past several days at Ridgecrest, he said this seems to be one of the best atmospheres that he has ever seen, he told Kern Sol News.
“We have mental health, professional mental health workers available for anybody that has the need, anybody that needs some counseling, we will refer them. And we also have a nurse and an EMT here that can handle any of the medical problems they have,” Wagner said.
They had one gentleman that said he evacuated so quickly that he forgot his CPAP machine. Luckily, one of their nurses stationed at the shelter was able to get him a CPAP machine.
They also had another resident that was on oxygen full time, and all she was able to take with her while evacuating was two small oxygen canisters. So Red Cross were able to get her an oxygen condensation machine, Wagner said
Terri Birch and her 18-year-old son Eric Baker’s home is in zone 735 and before they evacuated to the Ridgecrest shelter, their area had stayed in the yellow for a few days when the fire first started.
At one point the power shut off in their home and smoke was coming through their windows. That was when Birch knew the fire was getting close.
“The smoke was so intense. I just couldn’t breathe… You couldn’t see without your eyes burning. And I was trying to get everything packed because at that point we knew that the fire was really serious,” Birch said.
Birch and her son have seven dogs, six of them are large dogs. So other than the safety of her son and herself her biggest concern was to figure out a way on how to get her dogs out safely.
Birch was able to borrow a friend’s pickup truck. The plan was for her son to drive the car while she drove the truck.
“My car was already loaded from the day before. So it wasn’t a matter of just loading up the dogs and getting the dogs into the kennels, into the trucks, covering them up. We had to come off of the mountain around afternoon time after we received the red go,” Birch explained.
After evacuating it left them with one more problem. Feeling frantic, Birch and her son could not see.
“We really couldn’t see how far. We could see the smoke pummeling up on the backside of my house,” she said.
So they drove down into Tank Park, which is their local part and spent the afternoon there waiting for it to cool down enough so they could travel to Ridgecrest.
“They reassured me that they had room out here in Ridgecrest. And to go ahead and come on down when I could so that they would be open and ready to accept me,” Birch said. “The way that being accepted into the facility, not only just my dogs, but us as people, the Red Cross went up over and beyond to help me out.”
Birch shared that she has congestive heart failure and COPD. But after arriving at the shelter they brought down her anxiety levels from a 10 plus, down to a five.
“I did not expect to find a nurse on site, an ENT on site. I didn’t know what to expect when I arrived because I’ve heard so many different stories about what these places are like when people have to be rushed out of their homes. And I was pleasantly surprised to be able to have had all my animals housed. Not only housed, but given extra special care,” Birch said.
The two Red Cross shelters are located:
Tehachapi Education Center
126 South Snyder Ave.
Tehachapi, CA 93561
Burroughs High School
500 E. French Ave.
Ridgecrest, CA 93561
After visiting Kern County Tuesday, July 30, Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in response to the Borel Fire in Kern County.
“This devastating fire and the many like it we’re facing across the West are a clear and present danger to our way of life and California as we know it. I’m grateful for our first responders and the strong partnerships on display here and throughout the state in these challenging times. California will continue the urgent work to make our communities more resilient and protect people and the environment from intensifying climate impacts,” Governor Newsom said in his proclamation.
For updates on the Borel Fire, including evacuation orders and warnings, visit fire.ca.gov.
People can also find information on the Borel Fire at https://inciweb.wildfire.gov/incident-information/casqf-borel-fire
Cal Fire label the following zones under an evacuation orders:
- KRN-403-A
- KRN-403-B
- KRN-734
- KRN-735
- KRN-736
- KRN-737
- KRN-738
- KRN-739
- KRN-740
- KRN-741
- KRN-742
- KRN-743
- KRN-747-A
- KRN-747-B
- KRN-748
Cal Fire label the following zones under an evacuation warnings:
- KRN-100-B
- KRN-102-B
- KRN-419
- KRN-729
- KRN-730
- KRN-731
- KRN-732
- KRN-733
- KRN-744
- KRN-749
- KRN-750
- KRN-752
