HAVILAH CALIF. (KERO) — The Borel Fire tore through Havilah, destroying much of historic downtown and nearby properties. Now, one Havilah resident is advocating for proactive measures to prevent another disaster.
- Abby Bolt worked for the U.S Forest Service for 23 years as a wildland firefighter, and has seen the devastation floods can cause on burn scarred land.
- The Borel Fire started on July 24 after a car went over the side of the 178 through the Kern River canyon and caught fire.
- As of July 30, the Borel Fire has burned more than 50,000 acres.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
The Borel Fire tore through Havilah, destroying much of historic downtown and nearby properties. Now, one Havilah resident is advocating for proactive measures to prevent another disaster.
Abby Bolt is heading up the steep 2 mile dirt road that goes to her ranch in Havilah, the terrain almost entirely burned on that journey.
“When we heard that a fire had started by a vehicle that went over the side in the canyon, whenever a fire starts there we immediately start looking at the maps,” Bolt said.
Abby Bolt takes fire danger extremely seriously - and consulting fire history maps, she knew the Borel Fire could spread into Havilah.
“We’ve known something like this would happen since my parents bought this in the 80’s, so we’ve already been preparing it.”
Bolt spent 23 years as a wildland firefighter with the U.S Forest service.
“We have a goat herd that goes between 50 and a hundred goats at a time, and those we have just so they will keep the brush up to goat-head height.”
If it wasn’t for the Bolt ranch’s focus on clearing brush, her ranch might look like the area just southwest of her property in Historic Havilah, which was largely destroyed by the Borel Fire.
“My dad helps maintain those buildings, he’s on the Centennial group down there, he’s helped them do all that work. Yeah it does mean a lot, they moved up here for a reason, there’s a lot of history here.”
For Bolt, Havilah is home, and that’s why she’s already thinking about the next disaster.
“And now, even more than I think with the fire, I’m more concerned with the floods,” Bolt said, “People don’t realize it’s different, a burn area flood is different.”
With thousands of acres of burnt land, Bolt said the potential for flooding and landslides is high - and she’s personally seen the power of floods that occur on burn scarred land
“Here, actually on the Piute Fire, when that happened, during the fire we had a thunderstorm,” Bolt said, “The mud started coming down, the water started coming down from the top of the Piutes all the way down to Tank Park.”
Now, she’s putting up signs to gather attention, and tell everyone that will listen that proactive measures should be taken to prevent flooding and landslides - even talking with governor Gavin Newsome on Tuesday.
“So I’ve been a part of those measures. What I’ve done in the past is you go in and you start thinking about those drainages and you have water-diverting equipment, it can be straw wattle, it can be putting in drainages, it could be putting in culvert pipes, whatever it takes. But it’s hand and heavy-equipment to get in there and just start preparing.”
She says she’s like these efforts to start immediately, she says she believes government agencies are aware of the risk
“I think right now because it’s been such a crazy fire season and it’s not getting any better, Everybody is a step behind. It’s really hard to be a step ahead, so I'm hoping to advocate and get a step ahead on some of this because there are places in town that weren’t even affected by the fires but they’re going to get hit by the floods,” Bolt said.
Stay in Touch with Us Anytime, Anywhere:
