wildfire
A wildfire, forest fire, or a bushfire is an unplanned and uncontrolled fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identified as a ...
in the
Lake Isabella
Lake Isabella also called Isabella Lake, is a reservoir in Kern County, California, United States created by the earthen Isabella Dam. At , it is one of the larger reservoirs in California. Lake Isabella is located about northeast of Bakersfi ...
area of
Kern County
Kern County is a county (United States), county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 909,235. Its county seat is Bakersfield, California, Bakersfield.
Kern County compris ...
. It was the second-largest wildfire of the 2016 California wildfire season. It was also the first fire of the year to have fatalities and is the 15th most destructive fire in state history.
Progression
The fire, which was first reported around 4:00 p.m. PST on June 23, quickly grew to over and destroyed over 100 structures, including at least 80 residences, in the first few hours.
By mid-day on June 24, the fire had grown to over and was still 0% contained. By 6:00pm that day, officials confirmed that the fire had grown to over with 5% contained. That evening,
Governor Jerry Brown
Edmund Gerald Brown Jr. (born April 7, 1938) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as the 34th and 39th governor of California from 1975 to 1983 and 2011 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected secretary of ...
declared a
state of emergency
A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state before, during, o ...
for
Kern County
Kern County is a county (United States), county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 909,235. Its county seat is Bakersfield, California, Bakersfield.
Kern County compris ...
.
On June 28,
Kern County Fire Department
Kern or KERN may refer to:
People
* Kern (surname), includes a list of people with the name
* Kern (soldier), a light infantry unit in Medieval Irish armies
Places
* Kern, Alaska, a ghost town in Alaska
* Kern, Austria, see Sankt Marienki ...
confirmed that 257 homes had been destroyed by the fire.
On July 1, Two Red Cross Shelters were set up north of Lake Isabella.
On July 11, the fire was 100% contained. The cost of suppressing the fire came to $23 million, according to the
National Interagency Fire Center
The National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) in Boise, Idaho, is an American physical facility which is the home to the National Interagency Coordination Center (NICC) and the National Multi-Agency Coordination Group (NMAC or MAC).
The center w ...
.
Effects
On June 24, officials confirmed that 2 people had been killed by the fast moving fire. Officials also stated that
cadaver dogs
A search-and-rescue (SAR) dog is a dog trained to respond to crime scenes, accidents, missing persons events, as well as natural or man-made disasters. These dogs detect human scent, which is a distinct odor of skin flakes and water and oil secr ...
were being used to search for possible additional victims. The deceased victims were an elderly couple who died while attempting to flee their home.
On June 25, a third set of remains was found, though the body had been burned so badly that it is unclear whether or not the remains belong to a human or an animal. On June 27, the Kern County Sheriff's Office confirmed that the remains belonged to an animal and not to a human.
InciWeb
InciWeb is an interagency all-risk incident web information management system provided by the United States Forest Service released in 2004. It was originally developed for wildland fire emergencies, but can be also used for other emergency inci ...