Not too far from Lake Isabella, huge clouds of smoke are rising. Two separate fires are burning in what's been dubbed the "Piute Complex" fires.
"It was jumping just a couple days ago right behind the first foothill in that area," said Kelly Ann Botos, a Bodfish resident.
Botos says she lives a quarter-mile up a hill and all she smells at home is the forest fire.
"It's different, but we learn to live with it. We have a lot of wildfires,” she said. “I've been used to seeing the firefighters and the Forest Service taking care of our valley for 30 years."
Firefighters say lightning sparked both fires and several smaller ones Friday night. Several helicopters have been flying over the Piute Complex for days, dropping water on the two fires: the Clear Fire and Heald Fire.
"A lot of our fire crews are working on that fire trying to get some containment,” said Royjindar Singh, Fire Information Officer. “Yesterday, that fire did make some significant runs. We did see a growth almost double in size."
The Clear Fire has grown to about 950 acres and is threatening 20 vacant structures in the Valley View community. It is burning in steep terrain six miles south of Lake Isabella.
The Heald Fire is just northeast of it and has burned nearly 400 acres.
"There's no homes up in there that are threatened right now, but if it goes any farther up in, it's going to hit the Piutes, and there's people living up there," Botos said.
Firefighters have closed Saddle Spring Road near Bodfish to make it a one-way street designated for fire equipment.
Crews expect containment of at least one of the fires later this week.
