By Patric Hedlund, TME

Living in these wonderful mountains, surrounded by forests, with bright days, clean air, and star-filled night skies, is a thrill. There are also risks, we quickly come to learn.

The very day that over 400 people attended the grand opening of the beautiful new Frazier Park Branch Library on October 22, 2011, a wildfire erupted just over the hill on Tecuya Ridge.

Speeches by Kern County politicians were intermittently drowned out by the thud-thud-thud beat of helicopter blades overhead, as the Frazier Mountain Park pond across the street supplied water drops to fight the fire. Today that beloved pond—like ponds, springs and rivers across California—is dry. The trout, bass, catfish, ducks and geese are tender memories.

We are in the midst of a 22-year drought, the longest in recorded history. The debate is over. Climate change accelerates before our eyes. Smart, quick, change is needed, we are told. But first, of course, we all need to be able to see exactly how any change may alter our own personal piece of the world.

New Tools, Wiser Action

This Monday, May 16, a nonprofit research and data firm called First Street Foundation offered the public—you, me, our neighbors—free access to…(please see below to view full stories and photographs)

Photo captions:

Risk for Local Landmarks—over 30 years

The data above is a small sampler of “community risk” projections for key local zip codes. You can get more detailed information for your own personal address.

Like a bleeding gash opened in the side of the mountain, flames flowed down Tecuya Ridge toward Frazier Park on October 22, 2011 as the library was opening. Kern County Fire Department helicopters and U.S. Forest Service air tankers stopped the Station fire flames. It was 25% contained by that evening. The Frazier Park Library celebration continued without missing a beat.

Fire Risk Factors

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This is part of the May 20, 2022 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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