WALKER BASIN, Calif. (KERO) — Phillip Boone was safe in Bakersfield as his property in Walker Basin burned during the Borel Fire. It was the view from trail cameras that allowed him to capture and document both how the fire moved and how wildlife reacted.
- Boone owns an 80 acre plot of land in Walker Basin and uses trail cameras to capture footage of local wildlife
- The Borel Fire started on July 24, 2024
- The fire ultimately burned 59,288 Acres, making it the largest in Kern County history
- You can find the full video of the fire footage caught by Boone's cameras on his Youtube Channel here at Southern Sierra Nevada Media
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Before the Borel Fire, Phillip Boone’s property in Walker Basin was his escape.
“It's a beautiful property, it was mainly for, I own a labrador,” Boone said.
He lives in Bakersfield, but would often travel travel his 80 acre property in Walker Basin.
“Everytime you grab the keys or you grab the GPS collar for the dog they know where they are going, they’re more excited than me to come up here.”
He loved the land and its inhabitants, all of them.
That’s why over the years he has set up roughly 60 motion sensor trail cameras on his property - not for hunting - but for documenting the wildlife.
“You learn so many things Corey,” Boon said, “It’s amazing the stuff you get on camera when no-one is looking.”
He posts the wildlife video to his Youtube channel Southern Sierra Nevada Media.
“You find out there’s resident animals, I see the same black bears I saw from twelve years ago. So you get to see them grow.”
But during the Borel Fire, Boone estimates roughly 90 percent of his property was burned to some extent and when he came back -
“Devastation, scorched earth.”
He evacuated most of his cameras, but left about 20 behind -
‘I thought the cameras had no chance, absolutely no chance.”
But when he came back some had survived, capturing footage of the fire as it came through his property. Some cameras were destroyed and looked like this –
“This is the camera,” Boone said, holding a charred lump.
But he was still able to open several of them up and find the memory car intact.
“Embers were flying sideways, coming up in the aftermath some of the blue oaks were snapped in half because of the wind.”
ON the footage he witnessed animals reacting to the fire -
“A rabbit ran into the bush, into the fire, and it says a lot about the soul of a rabbit” Boone said, speculating that its burrow was under the bush.
Despite the devastation, Boone says he’s already seen animals he’s recognized in videos from after the fire.
“There's a black bear that came back within 48 hours of the fire, it was still smoking. A family of bobcats, a bobcat family with two kittens came back by. A lot of baby quail are on the property.”
He says he’s devastated about his property, but can already see new growth.
“This place will get better, it’ll grow back.”
And he says he’s thrilled to see so many of the animals he shares the land with live-on.
“I think the ecosystem has a way of figuring it out,” Boone said, “They have a way of being strong and surviving.”
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