A wildfire in the hills of western Kern County has become California’s second-biggest of the year.
The Lost Fire was reported around 9 a.m. Thursday, June 18, about 10 miles northwest of the town of McKittrick. By late afternoon, it had burned more than 3,000 acres and the first evacuations were ordered, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said.
By Thursday night, the evacuation order covered about 100 square miles of sparsely inhabited land, including part of the South Belridge oilfield.
The order was lifted around 2 p.m. Friday. At that time, the fire had burned 7,800 acres (12 square miles) and was 5% contained, Calfire said. Firefighting was being overseen by Kern County Fire and the Bureau of Land Management.
For updates and details of the evacuation warning areas, which remained in effect, see Kern County Fire’s Facebook page or the Genasys Protect map.
California’s biggest wildfire this year burned 18,379 acres last month on Santa Rosa Island, one of the Channel Islands. It was started by the rescue flares of a stranded sailor.
Last year, the Palisades, Eaton and Hughes fires burned a total of almost 50,000 acres in the Los Angeles area in January, but the state’s four biggest wildfires started in July and August.