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‘Took my breath away.’ Havilah residents get first look at Borel Fire's devastation

A street in Havilah, California, sits blackened on Sunday, July 28, 2024, after the Borel Fire swept through days earlier. The fire has spread rapidly through the Kern County mountains.
Joshua Yeager
/
KVPR
A street in Havilah, California, sits blackened on Sunday, July 28, 2024, after the Borel Fire swept through days earlier. The fire has spread rapidly through the Kern County mountains.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates. This story was updated at 6:10 p.m. See previous reporting here.

HAVILAH, Calif. – Car frames, felled trees and smoldering rubble line the only road that snakes through this town, as home after home sit crumpled down to their foundations.

A charred welcome sign greets drivers in. It and a wooden schoolhouse are some of the only structures to somehow escape the flames that overtook the former gold-mining community late last Friday.

The Borel Fireswept through 53,000 acres of Kern County mountains in just days and, as of Monday, was finally 5% contained. The fire started last Wednesday.

Thousands were evacuated from areas near Lake Isabella over the weekend and evacuation orders and warnings were extended as fire crews faced extreme fire behavior. The fire has scorched an area nearly the size of nearby Bakersfield.

Some of those evacuees have been able to return to the community to assess the damage, and witness the devastation firsthand.

Christine Laveck feeds her pet horse in Havilah. The animal survived the fire, though much of the town was destroyed.
Joshua Yeager
/
KVPR
Christine Laveck feeds her pet horse in Havilah. The animal survived the fire, though much of the town was destroyed.

‘Utter sadness for everyone up here’

The sights inside Havilah are almost too much to bear for Mary Deusenberry.

“It’s devastating. It took my breath away,” she said Sunday. “Just utter sadness for everyone up here.”

Deusenberry grew up in Havilah and described the region as her sanctuary. Some of her family still lives in the town. They lost everything.

But even here among the ashes, Deusenberry counted her blessings: Her daughter’s horses survived the fire with only minor burns.

“When we first saw them, it was just joy,” she said. A horse shared the relief, as it whinnied from its trailer.

Crews are assessing the scope of the damage in Havilah. The town itself doesn’t have a large population. It has burned before, but that was many decades ago. With the fire still active, any road to recovery is destined to be a long one.

Crews focus on protecting structures

An incident command team assigned to the wildfire reported the fire advanced rapidly by burning through sections of dry vegetation. It had hit an area of green brush on Sunday, but later moved again – nearly doubling its size by Monday.

Weather conditions are hot, humid and windy – aiding the fire’s spread.The fire is moving east and south along the ridgeline of Libel Peak. It has spread southeast near Walker Basin. Dozers have been used to build a containment line there.

In the northern perimeter, fire crews are also aiming to build a containment line off of Kern Canyon Road. The fire is threatening residential areas near Lake Isabella. Firefighters were continuing their efforts to protect structures.

The incident team expected severe fire behavior as long as the region was under a red-flag warning. Spot fires have been spotted about half a mile from the fire’s path.

‘We’re going to survive this’

Firefighters are see in the distance as they work to contain the Borel Fire in Kern County. The fire started on Wednesday, July 24, 2024, and destroyed a historic gold-mining community.
Joshua Yeager
/
KVPR
Firefighters are see in the distance as they work to contain the Borel Fire in Kern County. The fire started on Wednesday, July 24, 2024, and destroyed a historic gold-mining community.

The American Red Cross says it is responding to twice as many major disasters as it did at this time a decade ago. Officials said the state is also facing a longer fire season and more frequent wildfires.

Of the thousands evacuated, at least 40 people have been sheltering at Red Cross centers set up in Tehachapi and Ridgecrest for the Borel Fire. The organization was also serving those displaced by the Park Fire and others across the state.

Kern County Deputy Fire Chief Dionisio Mitchell sent a message Monday to fire crews who have been consumed by the fire fight. He thanked them for their work to fight the fires, and added that some who are fighting the blaze live in areas that are also under evacuation.

A video posted to Instagram showed Kern County firefighters inside a truck as fire swirled outside around them. The road ahead was filled with smoke.

“I don’t know if you want to go back that way,” one firefighter is heard saying as chatter comes over a radio speaker.

Fire crews are trying to prevent a further spread to more populated areas near Lake Isabella like Bodfish, but also are trying to keep the fire from spreading to areas like Moreland Mill, and French Meadow in the eastern Kern County mountains. An incident commander has described the land as “unforgiving.”

Where the fire has already spread, and passed, residents are vowing to rebuild one day.

“This is the Kern River Valley and we’re going to survive this,” said Katia Formica, a resident of nearby Piyure Canyon, which also suffered evacuations and fire damage.

Joshua Yeager is a Report For America corps reporter covering Kern County for KVPR.
Cresencio Rodriguez-Delgado is KVPR's News Director. Prior to joining the station's news department in 2022, he was a reporter for PBS NewsHour and The Fresno Bee.
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