Residents reflect on homes saved, lost to Bull Fire
| Tuesday, Jul 27 2010 07:45 PM
Last Updated Tuesday, Jul 27 2010 11:53 PM
Images
Pat Crain of Riverkern sees her destroyed home for the first time after the Bull Fire swept through the area Monday evening. Firefighters did their best to comfort the residents after they viewed the devastation.
Karin Josif talks to Californian reporter, Steve Swenson, and couldn't believe her residence in Riverkern was spared from Monday's firestorm that roared through Riverkern.
BLM Battalion Chief and PIO Debbie Santiago helps Riverkern resident Bill Phillips after he spent the night in his home in Riverkern. His home did not burn in the fire, although several in his neighborhood burned to the ground despite valiant efforts by firefighters.
RIVERKERN -- People in Riverkern weren't too concerned when the Bull Fire started Monday.
Even when it grew to a ridge on the west side of the river that they could see from their homes on the east side, they weren't worried.
After all, there was a lightning fire last week that was just above their homes and that fire moved away and was drenched in a thunderstorm of rain with no structure damage, resident Karin Josif said.
But then the fire kept coming and suddenly it jumped the river, said another resident, Ron Rojas.
"That's when we knew we were in trouble," he said.
Josif, who with her husband, Tobin, has a second house closer to the river, rushed down to that house and sprayed vegetation and shrubbery with a garden hose.
"There were no fire crews here yet," she said.
Rojas also sprayed some water near the river and then in an empty lot just below his house on Bullrun Boulevard. "If you protect houses down there, you protect your own house," he said.
Josif went back up the hill to her main house on Cowbell Boulevard as officers gave evacuation orders. Her son, Spencer, who works for Sierra South rafting company, came to the home in a bathing suit and flip-flops to help her pack a change of clothes, her two dogs and two dogs for her neighbors.
But she took time to videotape her boat and house in case an insurance person wanted to later verify the loss. They went to a lodge to spend the night. As they drove away, they saw houses just down the street on Channel Creek Road on fire.
"When I left here, I thought the whole neighborhood was going to burn," she said. On Tuesday as she hiked back with her husband who had driven up from his job in Burbank, she commented, "I was really surprised to see how many homes were left."
Still, seven homes were destroyed on Channel Creek Road and Bullrun Boulevard. Nothing remained of those homes except chimneys, rubble and burned cars including a restored 1963 Volkswagen bug owned by Edward Crain.
A distraught Crain discovered his loss Monday night and was upset that firefighters in the area didn't use fire hydrants to protect his house. But firefighters explained that the power went off and that idled pumps at the river power station that push water up the hill so water can be fed to the hydrants.
Like Josif, Rojas helped out his neighbors. That was a scene replayed all over the fire area.
Even 84-year-old Jack White, himself a retired Kern County battalion chief who now gets around with a cane, drove to his friends home off Burma Road so they could load up belongings in his vehicle.
As he did that, he surveyed the firefighters, air tankers and helicopters trying to save homes. "They had more than they could handle for several hours," he said. But all the homes west of the river were saved.
"I feel fantastic for our homes being saved," Josif said. "But I feel horrible for these houses that burned down."
She said it was "heartwarming" to see how neighbors pitched in to help each other even if they didn't have close relationships.
Back in Kernville, any business that provided food or shelter was as busy as it could be.
But Cheryl Borthick, owner of Cheryl's Diner, said her experience of 25 years in the area has taught her that the brisk business at the beginning of major fires can lead to a loss of business over the long haul.
She said she's always busy in the summer, but if tourists stop coming to avoid smoke, it's not good.
"We were just getting it all back this year," she said. "We had fish and a lot of water, but now we have a fire."
