Grand fire burns through 3,800 acres; crews attack from air
More than 1,400 firefighters were on the lines Friday, battling a brush fire that’s burned through more than 3,800 acres in Ventura and Kern counties since Wednesday.
The Grand fire is 25% contained, and the threatened Hungry Valley State Park and all roads to it remained closed, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said.
Thursday night, crews were working to gain an advantage over the fire, which started near Frazier Mountain Park Road and Grand Terrace Drive near Frazier Park, an unincorporated mountain village in Kern County.
“The wind was pushing it from bush to bush to bush,” said Sean Collins, spokesman for the Kern County Fire Department. “It was pushing pretty hard.”
Firefighters were building fire breaks in the blaze’s northern and southern paths and were relying on cooling temperatures and an uptick in humidity to help their efforts. Seven helicopters and 20 water tenders are to resume their air attack Friday.
Officials warned drivers to be careful and to not become distracted by the plumes of smoke along the 5 Freeway.
The most active front of the fire late Thursday was in Ventura County, where flames had spread and were burning through brush and grass in the Los Padres National Forest, fire officials said.
[For the Record, 9:39 a.m. PDT May 17: An earlier version of this post attribution statements on the Grand fire to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Prevention. It is the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.]
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