Lebec fire stopped in its tracks with rapid response

By Patric Hedlund and Gary Meyer, TME

The sun rose to reveal a hazy sky on Saturday, July 7. The devastating Goleta Holiday fire destroyed over 20 homes in Santa Barbara County that morning. Smoke hovered over the Mountain Communities. In just three days California Governor Edmund G. Brown had already declared states of emergency for wildfires in Siskiyou, San Diego and Santa Barbara counties, followed by evacuations Saturday in Burbank and San Bernardino County. Fire season is here. California is at war.

In Lebec on Sunday, July 8 at about 1:30 p.m., a Kern County dispatcher responded to reports of a grass fire at Lebec Road and Lebec Oaks Road.

Within minutes…(please see below to view full stories and photographs)

Photo captions:

Above and above, right: A BAe-146 air tanker made numerous retardant drops on the hillsides.

Flames spread quickly from Lebec Oaks Road south to Clear Canyon, but air tankers were able to stop their progress. Below: A hand crew makes its way up a ridge to begin the task of cutting a line around the fire.

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This is part of the July 13, 2018 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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