What we all fear was confirmed by Kern County Fire Chief Brian Marshall at a press conference Tuesday, Feb. 11: “Fire season never stopped this year…. There have been 300 wildfires in the state that Cal Fire has responded to in the last month. In the same reporting period last year, it was zero,” he said.

Marshall secured funding from the Kern County Board of Supervisors Tuesday to bring back 15 additional firefighters for two months.
“We will have a full force on by March 1 and no later than April 1 we will be fully staffed for wildland fire season,” he announced. Usually this occurs by May 15. —P. Hedlund

This is part of the February 14, 2014 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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