Incident Report


Andrew Freeborn
Incident Number
Incident tYPE
Incident Narrative
Tuesday, Kern County firefighters were dispatched to reports of a building fire located on Edison Hwy near Exchange St. While en route firefighters noted a large column of smoke could be seen from a distance. Upon arrival, firefighters encountered a commercial building with large amounts of fire coming from the front of the building and roof. It was then a "Second Alarm" was requested, essentially doubling the resources responding.
Firefighters forced their way through metal security doors to make entry and begin extinguishing the fire. While one group of firefighters were making entry into the building of origin, a second group entered an adjacent building to check for fire spread and victims. The second group found active fire, extinguished it, and completed searches to confirm there were no persons inside the second building. Shortly after beginning firefighting operations, it was determined that an "Exterior Attack" would be utilized to extinguish the fire in the building of origin. This decision was made based on fire intensity and building conditions. To provide the amount of water needed to flow multiple hose lines, including an elevated hose stream from Truck-41, Cal Water boosted the pressure in the city water lines. With the pressure boosted firefighters were able to get a knockdown on the fire in approximately two hours.