BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — A little over a week ago, the historic Rose Bowl stadium played host to the 111th Rose Bowl game. Now, it hosts firefighters, serving as one of the bases in their fight to stop the hellscape from spreading even further.
One of those fire departments? Kern County Fire Department. “We have well over 100 firefighters that have left Kern County and have come to these fires that are burning actively here in Southern California,” said KCFD Captain Andrew Freeborn. With so many firefighters away from home, one may worry that Kern County is left unprotected.
“It is our Kern County firefighters that are coming back to work on their days off, and that way we have all of our stations staffed. In fact, just within this last day or so, our firefighters in the Lake Isabella area were able to rescue an individual that was unconscious inside of a burning home,” said Freeborn. “So we are still very active in Kern County.” Like Los Angeles County Fire, the demand of water straining the system has caused issues. Luckily, KCFD has a way to mitigate it. “We bring in water tenders,” said Freeborn. “It’s a large diesel truck with a large tank of water on the back and it supplies the fire engines with water.” Some of these firefighters are back on the front line just months after the Borel Fire, the biggest fire in Kern County’s history tore through their own homes.
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Battalion Chief Brian Barrett, lived in the area the Borel Fire scorched. Now, he’s fighting for Angelenos, living through their own kind of hell. “Living in the footprint of the Borel Fire gives you a different perspective,” said Barrett. “I think it helps me be able to connect with what’s going on with them here.” The devastation is massive. The cost is estimated in the billions. For Barrett, it’s a painful reminder of what his life was like just months ago. “You feel it more,” said Barrett. “You feel what everyone else is going through. It’s just our job. It does not matter if it’s in Kern County or Los Angeles County…Los Angeles County is our neighbors, and we’ll be there to help them. It’s just lines on a map.” “We know that we were helped just months ago, and now we’re here to do the same,” said Freeborn. As for when these Kern County firefighters might be able to return home, for now, they don’t know. They’re working on-and-off, 24-hour shifts and say their highest priority right now is helping our neighbors in the Southland…