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August 26, 2010

Post Fire, Kern County, CA

Tuesday night I drove down to Kern County to photograph the Post fire. The fire had started that afternoon just north of the town of Lebec and on the eastern edge of Los Padres National Forest. I watched the sunrise over the mountains in Antelope Valley as crews from Kern County Fire Department worked on creating fire breaks along the ridge line.

Later that morning after checking in at the incident command post I headed out along Lebec Oaks Rd. and joined up with the US Forest Service’s Breckenridge Hot Shot crew. They were working on the active part of the fire in Division X trying to stop the forward spread of the fire in some steep and difficult terrain.

July 29, 2010

And Fire Season is Underway

I just barely had enough time to relax and make dinner after returning from Lassen county when I get the CAL Fire twitter. Kern County Fire was battling a blaze south of Tehachapi and it looked like it was a big one.

The initial report was 400 acres and 30 plus structures lost with 150 structures threatened. I would have time for a quick nap then load up the car and head south. The drive would only take four hours.

I wanted to hit the road at 1 a.m. but I over-slept my alarm and didn’t get up till 5 a.m. (I guess I was more tired from the drive back from Lassen than I realized). I made quick time down I-5 and made it to Incident Command in Tehachapi around 10:30 a.m.

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June 12, 2010

California Fire Season

Other states have hunting seasons or tourist seasons. We have those in California as well but we also have fire season. As the dry summer winds heat up the California landscape the moisture is driven from the ground vegitation first and eventually from the trees creating a very dangerous set of conditions. Summit FireIf you have ever spent a summer here you quickly get used to reading and hearing about the wildfires that spring up around the state.

Two years ago I got the chance to cover my first set of wildfires that occurred very close to San Jose. The first fire was the Summit fire that started when a land owner illegally burned some debris up on Summit Road along the border of Santa Clara and Santa Cruz Counties. (more…)

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