By Patric Hedlund

George Doherty has an Irish brogue that thickens when he is talking about the fire at his home on Zermatt Drive last Sunday in the Pine Mountain community. “I built the house with my own hands,” he said, telling about things inside that were lost in the fire. There is the large painting showing the house where he was born on a hillside in Ireland. There is the old wooden clock his wife’s brother sent them from the home country. There are the paintings by his son, a graphic artist, and all the family photographs.

The family started building the house together in 1981. Doherty, his wife and four children would come up to the mountain on weekends to work on it. Now, he says, what he is most grateful for is the many neighbors who helped and the amazing response by firefighters from Kern County engines 55, 56, 57 and 58, plus Los Angeles County Fire Engine 77.

The alarm was sounded by young Jagger Schwartz, 12. He was walking his dog Foxy on Zermatt Drive when he smelled smoke shortly after 1:15 p.m. He spotted a fire, he said: “I saw… (please click the link below to view full stories and photographs in our e-Edition)

Photo captions:

Firefighters attacked the house fire on Zermatt Drive in the Pine Mountain community on Sunday, Oct. 12.

Top left: Engine 58 firefighters knocking down the flames. Clockwise, from left: Lisa Hipp explains to Battalion Chief Kirk Kushen the explosion she saw; Jagger Schwartz and his dog Foxy first reported the fire; Mark Overstreet dialed 911, and then got in touch with the Doherty family, who had left for their home in L.A. two hours before the fire; A firefighter thanks one of the neighbors for helping.

Left: U.S. Forest Service firefighters scale base of Sawmill Mountain to put out a half-acre blaze. Above: Three helicopters were called in to fight the Sawmill fire that could have come down to nearby homes.

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This is part of the October 17, 2014 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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