Tuesday, Aug 14 2012 08:57 PM Jawbone Complex grows to more than 12,000 acres By Tehachapi News
The Jawbone Complex fires have grown to more than 12,000 acres as firefighters continue to use Tehachapi as a base of operatons to fight the lightning caused blaze in the rugged mountains to the northeast.
According to an update issued just after 7 p.m., firefighters both on the ground and in the air are aggressively fighting the fire with 999 people committed to that effort.
There are two separate fires, the Rim and Jawbone which constitute the Jawbone Complex. The Rim fire is the larger of the two fires and closest to Tehachapi. At a community meeting on Monday night fire officials estimated the distance at between 2.5 amd 4 miles from inhabited areas of Sand Canyon — although they stressed at the time that there was no immediate danger to Sand Canyon residents.
The fire was very active Monday, with a big blow-up that expanded the size of the Rim fire by approximately 2,000 acres when a thunderstorm and erratic afternoon winds pushed the fire into dense Pinyon/Juniper fuels that had not burned in 150 years.
Efforts on Tuesday were to continue construction and hold the fire line using aircraft, dozers, hand crews and engines. Tuesday was predicted to be the last day of thunderstorm activity with improving weather conditions forecast.
The new Kern County Fire Dept. complex near Monolith, former home of Monroe School, is being used as a base camp with firefighters arriving from around the state as the mini-city supports their operations with a veritable stream of traffic between the camp and the entry to Jawbone Canyon off of Highway 14 north of Mojave.
Tehachapi Airport has been used as a fueling station for the many helicopters helping fight the fire including three Black Hawk helicopters from the California Air National Guard that have been assigned to the fires. They will continue to fly waterdropping and supply missions in support of the fire as long as needed.
The Jawbone Complex started on Friday, August 10, 2012 at approximately 1 p.m., not long before Tehachapi was hit with a deluge from the monsoon-like system moving through the mountains.
The fire is located 20 miles North of Mojave near the Sierra Crest and about 10 miles west of Highway 14.
Southern California Incident Management Team 2 assumed command of the fire effective 6:00am on August 12, 2012. The management of the fire is under Unified Command between the Bureau of Land Management, and Kern County Fire.
Updates about the fire are posted twice daily at the website www.inciweb.org and the Kern County Fire Dept. posts periodic updates on Facebook.
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