BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — Sunday is day two of the effort to extinguish the fire on Washington Street.
It’s a much calmer sight than when black smoke clouds from the 20,000 square foot inferno were visible all over central Kern County. Yet the Kern County Fire Department is still hard at work, like they were throughout the night.
“Engine 41 is out here right now,” said KCFD Engineer Nathan Goossens. “Truck 41 was here last night. They remained here from the beginning of the call to about 8 o’clock this morning.”
Looking at the scene, it may not be clear why units are still needed. Goossens says their job is far from over.
“We’ve been searching for hot spots well into the night,” said Goossens. “We’re just going around looking for any hot spots, any flames or anything else like that underneath all this metal.”
Hot spots are created after the flames have been extinguished. The substance that was aflame can light up again.
“Those products are still hot, and they still contain a lot of heat in them,” said Goossens. “What we’re looking for is to cool all that heat so that we no longer have any smoke or steam production, and basically extinguish this fire 100 percent.”
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It’s for that reason that KCFD remains on scene. To snuff those hotspots out. Even once that’s done, Goossens says there’s still work to be done. They’ll be visiting this location for the next few days.
“Eventually it’ll turn into a patrol phase,” said Goossens. “Where crews will start rotating and come back every so often to make sure that there’s nothing that has rekindled or started burning again.”
In the middle of his explanation, another small flame ignited. Proving his point that their job isn’t over just yet.