The 38,000-acre Borel Fire in Kern County has scorched the small, historic mining town of Havilah.
“We lost everything, everything is gone,” Havilah resident Sean Rains told The Times on Sunday. “The whole town burned down. A lot of people, friends I know, everyone lost everything.”
The fire started Wednesday in the Kern River Canyon and spread rapidly as it encountered strong winds, authorities said. It swept through Havilah on Friday night, razing much of the town, though it apparently spared only a few buildings.
A museum in Havilah has been reduced to rubble, except for a plaque that reads “Historic Havilah: First County Seat of Kern County.”
(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
Standing amid a pervasive mix of smoke and ash, Rains said he and other residents helped firefighters keep Havilah City Hall from burning. But a nearby historical museum was reduced to rubble, save for a plaque that reads “Historic Havilah: Kern County’s First County Seat.”
The unincorporated community of about 250 people is located in the mountains northeast of Bakersfield.
“Our hearts go out to the members of the public in Havilah and the Piute Meadows area,” Kern County Fire Department Deputy Chief Dionisio Mitchell said during a news conference Saturday. “We know they suffered a loss yesterday. It’s difficult for them. We have crews there currently assessing the situation.”
More than 1,200 firefighters were battling high temperatures and bone-dry conditions Sunday as they continued to battle the blaze, which remains uncontained.
Authorities could not immediately confirm the number of structures burned and said assessments were underway. Thousands of people in the area remain under evacuation orders as the fire threatens populated areas such as Bodfish and Lake Isabella.
“We’ve been under red alert conditions and the fire continues to burn very, very intensely and erratically,” said Capt. Andrew Freeborn of the Kern County Fire Department. “The flames can be seen for miles. If you’re looking for how you would define extreme fire behavior, you’re seeing that with this fire.”
Authorities could not immediately confirm the number of structures burned and said assessments were ongoing.
(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
Havilah was founded in the 1860s and is registered as a California historical landmark. At the time of its founding, it was an active mining center that was home to saloons, dance halls, hotels, stores and other establishments, according to the Havilah Museum. The city served as the county seat of Kern County from 1866 to 1872, when the government was moved to Bakersfield.
But Havilah is no stranger to fire, and many residents began leaving the town after several fires swept through it in the early 1870s, according to the museum.
However, the area where the Borel Fire is burning has not seen much wildfire activity since the early 1990s, meaning there is plenty of unburned vegetation that can act as fuel for the flames, officials said.
“And when you align the bottom part [relative humidity]“The high winds and triple-digit weather we’ve been dealing with for the last 10 to 12 days, everything lined up for a perfect storm there,” Mitchell said during Saturday’s news conference.
Incident commander Jim Snow added that crews are facing “steep, unforgiving country” and hot, sun-scorched slopes.
“The weatherman says it's 100 degrees outside, but with the heat from the fire, the heat from the hillside reflecting off it and the heat from the general air temperature, we're talking about 120, 130-plus degrees at any given time for the firefighters out there,” he said.
Havilah is an unincorporated community of about 250 people in the mountains northeast of Bakersfield.
(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
On Sunday, Havilah resident Brett Keith returned to find his home had been destroyed. He searched through the rubble, but all he could find was a small shotgun he had had since he was 7 years old. A large bull belonging to his neighbor was standing in his front yard suffering from some burns.
“I’ll have to call my neighbor to come get his bull,” he said.
The Borel Fire is being monitored along with two other fires in Kern and Tulare counties, collectively referred to as the SQF Lightning incident. The other fires are the Trout Fire, which has burned 22,660 acres and is 25% contained, and the Long Fire, which has burned 9,204 acres and is 35% contained.
They are among about two dozen active wildfires in California, including the 350,000-acre Park Fire burning in Butte, Plumas, Shasta and Tehama counties.
Mitchell said: “This is going to be a fight for a while.”
“The state of California is under fire right now from all sides,” he said.
