By Patric Hedlund

It was exactly one year ago, July 26, 2013, that these Mountain Communities—from Lebec through Pine Mountain—were unified in calling for better fire prevention cooperation between Caltrans and the Kern County Fire Department.

Three fires within 17 days had all started within one mile of each other along the same stretch of the Grapevine. All were caused by vehicles throwing sparks or hot metal into dry brush along the southbound lanes of Interstate 5. Those fires cost millions of dollars to fight. They forced repeated evacuations by…

Image description:

Image of the July 26, 2013 Mountain Enterprise front page, showing a giant smoke plume covering southbound Interstate 5 through the Grapevine.

Photo caption:

The cab of this big rig melted from the heat of the fire south of Grapevine on July 22, 2014.

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This is part of the July 25, 2014 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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