More than a thousand firefighters are doing battle against the Bull Fire that broke out around 1:45 p.m. Monday north of Kernville. 15,586 acres had burned as of Wednesday morning. Eight homes were destroyed as the fire swept through a neighborhood in Riverkern the first day of the fire, the Kern County Fire Department reported. One firefighter suffered a minor injury while clearing brush."It's really a tragedy. I can't believe all three of the houses are gone. My buddy up the street, his house is gone," Riverkern resident Kyle Pinette said.
The fire is burning in grass and brush on both sides of the Kern River, north of Kernville, according to a news release Wednesday from the U.S. Forest Service. Tuesday, crews working on the northern flank of the fire, to the west of the Kern River, were pulled back due to a significant increase in fire activity. However, efforts to construct fire line along the southern perimeter were successful, and fire crews worked through Tuesday night to strengthen those lines. Crews also worked through the night to clean up islands of unburned fuels between the river and Mountain Highway 99, the release indicated.
On Wednesday crews were working to construct a fire line directly along the southern, south-western and south-eastern perimeter of the fire’s edge. Firefighters were expecting increased winds with a slight possibility of afternoon thunderstorms.
Riverkern was the first community to be hit by the Bull Fire. The wind-blown flames outraced firefighters to the scene. Ashes smoldered where seven homes once stood in this tight-knit community.
Riverkern resident Sue Ellen Weber’s home was spared, But she saw the one across her street on Bull Run Road catch fire. "Just before we left, I saw it hit the garage," she said. Three homes right across the street - destroyed. Four homes just down the street on Cannel Creek Road, gone.
"That's amazing to me, I can't even believe it. Then my house and [Pinette’s] house, not even touched," Weber said.
“The side of the house was going up where that little pole is over there and some tools caught on fire and I went to turn the water on and we had no water. They drained the wells to put the fire out and I had a bucket and I was getting it out of the pool. Then my pants caught on fire and a fireman came and grabbed my by the neck and threw me in the car and made me leave," Pinette said.
While the main fire has moved on into unpopulated wild land to the northeast and northwest, hot spots still smolder in Riverkern.
Residents aren't allowed to return, except to pick up belongings. For some, there is little left.
Residents hope they will be able to return home Wednesday, but some may not have electricity, and they are being told to boil their water before drinking.
