TheBakersfieldCalifornian.com

SAND CANYON — Firefighters seemed to have taken the momentum out of a roughly 1,400-acre wildfire that had threatened a rural community in Sand Canyon Tuesday night as smoke billowed from the hillside near the homes.

“We’re trying to stop the forward progress of the fire,” Kern County Fire Capt. Derek Tisinger said. “We’re trying to get our hands on as many air resources right now as we can and try to put a bunch of water on it.”

Despite the progress, just before 6:30 p.m. 40 structures were still at the mercy of where the wind drove the fire. But by 9:30 p.m., Tisinger said the community’s buildings were no longer threatened by the fire, which was 15 percent contained.

Tisinger said firefighters expect to fully contain the fire Wednesday if the wind and heat remained favorable to their cause.

The fire started just before 1:20 p.m. near Sand Canyon Road and the westbound lanes of Highway 58. Tisinger said the blaze, dubbed the Sand Fire, was accidentally started by a wheel that came off a boat trailer being towed on Highway 58. 

The fire consumed a vacant house near the highway and also burned through a bridge on Tehachapi Boulevard just east of Sand Canyon Road, Tisinger said.

Highway 58 was closed briefly after the fire started, then eastbound lanes were shutdown again for a period later in the afternoon. Sand Canyon Road was also shut down to give fire equipment, including six bulldozers, priority passage, Tisinger said.

The fire headed north pushed by a northeastern wind, burning along grassy hillsides and then up a mountain slope.

Annette Torres, who lives in Sand Canyon near Quail Mountain Road, estimated the fire to be about five miles away from her home.
The afternoon had been “nerve-racking,” she said.

Torres ran to her neighbor to listen to his police scanner when she noticed the fire. She then spent the rest of the afternoon sitting outside watching. At about 5:45 p.m., she said her power had been out for about a half an hour.

“We’ve watched it, and it’s gone up the windmills,” Torres said. “We have our binoculars out, and we see blackened windmills.”

Windmills on the hillside stood still in the smoke as the fire burned along the ridge line. A patch of bright red flames could be seen flaring up on a high slope near the top of the peak. Toward the base of the mountain, packs of pink flame retardant stained the brush where firefighters had diverted the flames from the community of Sand Canyon.

“All the air resources were initially put on this flank of the fire to stop the progress toward Sand Canyon, which is why (the fire) burned over the hill,” Tisinger said, standing on Sand Canyon Road.

About 250 people worked to contain the fire, with more on the way, Tisinger said. Cal Fire, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service, Los Angeles County Fire Department and California City Fire Department personnel joined Kern County firefighters in the battle.

Six tankers and five helicopters were tapped to douse the blaze. Helicopters ferried water from Kern County Fire’s “glider” dip site near Highline Road.

Just before 6:30 p.m. the fire was still burning to the north and east. Tisinger said wind coupled with hot, dry conditions and the rugged terrain made it challenging. The blaze was also burning into denser vegetation where it could more likely set off embers that could spread the fire.

“Not to jinx it but it’s looking fairly promising (to halt the progress of the fire Tuesday night),” Tisinger said.

An elderly resident paused as she drove by a cluster of firefighter vehicles to ask Tisinger, “How’s the fire going?”

“Slow but steady,” Tisinger said.

The road closures added stress to at least one family’s afternoon. Janice Luper found the road at the canyon closed at about 2 p.m. when she was bringing her father back from chemotherapy. Her 14-year-old daughter, Kristen, and her 8-year-old daughter, Mackenzie, were alone at their home on Pine Canyon Road. Luper was frustrated that she couldn’t get to them and no one would check on them.

“They had me sitting up there for an hour,” she said.

Luper was escorted to the house after waiting for an hour to an hour and a half, she said. Her husband, Jesse Luper, took back roads home from Palmdale because of the road closures.

As the family watched the fire, the girls said they weren’t scared of the approaching flames but became anxious waiting for their mother.

The Lupers headed out to look at the blaze after their power went out as they sat down to watch the 5 p.m. news — Luper was interviewed by several television stations as she waited to get home.

“If (the fire) comes over the hill we’ll probably head out” to stay with relatives in Mojave or friends in Rosamond, Luper said.

At about 8:20 p.m., 17 Southern California Edison Co. customers were without power because of equipment damaged by the fire, utility regional manager Debbie Hess said. Wire was down and multiple poles were damaged. Hess said the damage was being assessed and she did not have an estimated time when power might be restored.

Gary Lowd, who lives on Umtali Road near Nyamazi Court, said the situation could be worse. From what he’d seen, the fire was headed in the opposite direction of his home and other populous areas. He also said he has faith Southern California Edison Co. would get the power back on soon.

“I see a lot of smoke and airplanes,” Lowd said. “It could be a lot worse. It’s not bad considering. If the wind turned about the other direction, that would be really bad.”

— Californian staff writer Rebecca Kheel contributed to this report.