Small Fire on Sawmill Mountain above Pine Mountain Community

  • Chuchupate Ranger Station helicopter 530 makes a water drop on the fire. [photo by Marvin Anfinson]

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    Chuchupate Ranger Station helicopter 530 makes a water drop on the fire. [photo by Marvin Anfinson]

  • About 20 US Forest Service strike team members hike up the trail from the top of Bernina Drive in Pine Mountain, before reaching a steep incline rising from a ravine, just below the fire. [photo by Gary Meyer]

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    About 20 US Forest Service strike team members hike up the trail from the top of Bernina Drive in Pine Mountain, before reaching a steep incline rising from a ravine, just below the fire. [photo by Gary Meyer]

  • The long hard slog up a very steep wall out of a ravine. The fire was burning just over the ridge top. [photo by Gary Meyer]

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    The long hard slog up a very steep wall out of a ravine. The fire was burning just over the ridge top. [photo by Gary Meyer]

UPDATE–Pine Mountain Club, CA (Tuesday, Oct. 14 at 12:20 p.m.)—”The fire was 100% contained as of 9:50 a.m.,” said Mt. Pinos District Ranger Roy Morris. The fire was contained at less than a half acre with the assistance of Kern County Fire Department helicopters 407 and 408, and Chuchupate Ranger Station’s helicopter 530. Strike teams totaling about 20 members were on scene this morning at about 8:15 and climbed up the side of the mountain to reach the fire. Morris said there was no information available about the cause of the fire.

UPDATE–Pine Mountain Club, CA (Tuesday, Oct. 14 at 9:42 a.m.)—”They have three helicopters on it now,” Reporter Gary Meyer said from Sawmill Mountain. “I went ahead of the USFS strike team. They left me in the dust at the bottom of a 150 foot cliff that they scaled to reach the ridge at the fire’s edge. I think this will be controlled shortly,” Meyer said. The smoke that was coming over the ridge is no longer visible, and helicopter flights are slowing.

UPDATE–Pine Mountain Club, CA (Tuesday, Oct. 14 at 9:15 a.m.)—Two helicopters are now dropping water on the Sawmill Mountain fire. Calls are coming into The Mountain Enterprise from callers who wish to register objections to the U.S. Forest Service  and California Department of Fish and Wildlife for allowing hunting in this region during extreme fire danger drought conditions. Deer hunting season began this weekend.

UPDATE–Pine Mountain Club, CA (Tuesday, Oct. 14 at 8:14 a.m.)—A U.S. Forest Service strike team is preparing to assemble to attack the fire, which is reported to be between a quarter acre and one acre in size and spreading slowly downhill with light wind. Kern County Fire Department Helicopter 407 is back aloft taking water from Fern’s Lake for the fire on Sawmill Mountain above the Pine Mountain community.

Pine Mountain Club, CA (Tuesday, Oct. 14 at 8 a.m.)—Smoke can be seen on Sawmill Mountain this morning as a Kern County Fire Department helicopter is circling to investigate. The sound of the helicopter can be heard throughout the Pine Mountain community. We will provide more details as they are available.

This is part of the October 10, 2014 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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