By Gary Meyer

Less than an hour after the ribbon was cut to open the doors of the new Frazier Park Library, fire erupted. An alarm was sounded at 11:41 a.m., Saturday, Oct. 22 that a fire had been sparked by gunfire on top of Tecuya Ridge (above Frazier Park), according to Kern County fire officials.

Photos and reports from community reporters began flowing into The Mountain Enterprise Breaking News line at www.MountainEnterprise.com before firefighters were on scene. Joyce Garrett was first, then Linda Curtis, Chuck Nobel, Tom Cadd, Carol Lee Weber, Lance Borgstrom, Kira Fisher and Debra Wash all helped keep their neighbors informed.

The Station fire was declared contained at 25 acres on Tuesday, Oct. 25. Three helicopters, two fixed wing tankers, bulldozers and 140 firefighters from Los Padres National Forest and Kern County Fire Department (KCFD) fought to keep the blaze from spreading. One firefighter suffered a minor back injury and another was hoisted from the mountainside by a Kern County Sheriff’s helicopter to be taken by Hall’s ground ambulance for hospital treatment.

KCFD’s Leland Davis said humidity is so low that a small spark, combined with winds, can become dangerous. He asks the public to please be careful.

This is part of the October 28, 2011 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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