LAMONT, Calif. (KERO) — On Thursday morning a new construction that was supposed to be a church in Lamont caught fire. Kern County firefighters responded to the scene and extinguished it before it reached nearby homes.
- A construction site in Lamont caught fire early Thursday morning.
- The fire broke out at the construction site on Habecker Road around 5 AM.
- County firefighters arrived to find the site fully engulfed in flames.
- Firefighters used a ladder truck to attack the fire from the top to smother it.
- The cause of the fire is still under investigation by the arson department.
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BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
This was supposed to be a new church in Lamont. But Thursday morning, the somehow construction site caught on fire. Kern County Fire Department (KCFD) firefighters were on the scene to extinguish the fire and save nearby homes from also catching on fire.
Large roof panels and other debris are all that remain from a church under construction after it caught fire Thursday at around 5 in the morning.
"Kern County firefighters were dispatched to Habecker Road in Lamont for reports of a structure fire," said KCFD Engineer and Public Information Officer Jonathan Drucker. "On their arrival, they found a church building, approximately 10,000 feet in size heavily involved in fire."
Drucker says the fire was threatening nearby homes, causing firefighters to take what they call a “defensive approach” against the growing flames.
"In the case of a fully engulfed fire structure where at that point that structure is no longer savable, it is too far involved in a fire, that becomes a defensive operation," explained Drucker.
As a result of the excessive heat from the fire, Drucker says the construction’s roof and walls collapsed. With the fire leaving a significant amount of debris behind, Drucker says KCFD’s Fire Heavy Equipment Specialists had to assist.
"Afterward, firefighters got knocked down on the fire, and they were able to comb through the debris and able to do primary and secondary victim searches. Fortunately, those were all clear, there were no victims in the fire," said Drucker.
KCFD says their arson department is still investigating the cause of the fire.
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