20-05-2025
Highway 178 remains closed into Day 2 of Democrat Fire burning through Kern River Canyon
BAKERSFIELD, CA. (KGET) — Cars were lined up early Monday morning, stuck in Bakersfield trying to get to Lake Isabella.
Asension Badillo waited an hour hoping to get to Lake Isabella, but ended up missing a day of work and turned around to Bakersfield.
Larry Bly has lived in Lake Isabella almost 30 years, and sees fire closures often.
'Uhh, it happens, you know, we're in fire season right now so…normally it's when somebody wrecks, goes over the edge,' said Bly.
Highway 178 remained closed well into day two of the Democrat Fire. The blaze has been going since 2:30 p.m. on Sunday.
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The start of the fire is around 10 miles in westbound from the base of the Kern River Canyon. The cause is still under investigation.
'As far as we know there've been no injuries, there are no fatalities,' said Amy Masi, Public Information Officer with the US Forest Service. 'Right now we don't have any significant structures threatened.'
Two months from the anniversary of the Borel Fire, many fear this could turn into a disaster of that magnitude.
The Forest Service says there's not much in common between the fires.
'We have people working in the air and on the ground and it kicks lose rocks,' said Masi. 'Same as if we had a flood, we have all kinds of hazards on the hillside, we don't know what those are going to be until we're done with the fire fight.'
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