KERN RIVER VALLEY, Calif. (KERO) — As the Borel Fire continues to expand, those impacted are evacuating to neighboring communities like Kernville, but others would prefer to stay.
- As of Monday morning, the Borel fire has burned through over 53 thousand acres and is still at zero percent containment.
- Joshua Lafever and his family reside in Bodfish, when they got the alert, they said they decided to pack their belongings for the safety of their children.
- With a current trajectory of heading east, people in Kernville aren’t extremely concerned. Business owner Randy Kyle says he doesn't plan on evacuating any time soon after his ordeal with the French Fire.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
With the Borel fire continuing to expand throughout the Kern River Valley, many have decided to evacuate to neighboring communities. However, some residents in Kernville have decided to stay.
“You know when you see a danger, or something why wait around to be told to leave? When there’s a potential for something bad to happen, keep your family safe — we have too many kids so we just wanted to be good Christians and make it easier for the police for them to have to worry about one less person," said Bodfish resident Joshua Lafever.
He brought his family to Kernville not only to get away from the harsh smoke but to gain access to the internet since many of the sheltered campgrounds don’t have it.
“I found out that now Bodfish, the particular area we're in is under a red alert so we're not even allowed to go up there even," said Lafever.
As of Monday morning, the Borel fire has burned through over 53 thousand acres and is still at zero percent containment.
With a current trajectory of heading east, people in Kernville aren’t extremely concerned. Business owner Randy Kyle says he doesn't plan on evacuating any time soon after his ordeal with the French Fire.
“We could see the flames over the mountain in the back," said Kernville resident and business owner, Randy Kyle. "Then we started getting concerned and then started going through all the possessions.”
Kyle says preparations during the French fire were very chaotic and, in the end, realized that materials could be replaced but the family couldn’t.
“We're praying for everybody and if it gets close or anything like that we're just going to load up our family and roll out of here so I'm not going to worry about it.”
Lafever says his family is leaving behind a multitude of possessions and although it could be a big financial loss — it’s the last thing on his mind.
“Just the necessities were not worried about material things you know not important in a situation like this. Our concern was just keeping the kids safe and making sure that we were in a safe area and just doing what we needed to do that’s all," said Lafever.
The Kernville Chamber of Commerce has opened the Rodeo Grounds for residents to camp and store large animals and livestock. You can also download the Genisys app or call 211 for more information.
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