Update Thursday 10:30 a.m.

Fire in Frazier Park is at 3,500 acres and 15% contained.

The Kern County Fire Department said that the fire remained active last night until approximately 3:00 am.

Initial efforts this morning will be concentrated on the southern edge of the fire with hand lines and dozer breaks being implemented on the western edge.

1,000 personnel 

Helicopters and Air Tankers are back over the fire this morning.

Updated Wednesday at 11:30 p.m.

Firefighters expect to be battling a blaze that started around noon near Frazier Park throughout the night, fire officials said Wednesday. 

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The incident created smoky conditions throughout the Santa Clarita Valley on Wednesday.

Firefighters were battling a fast-moving, wind-driven wildfire that burned more than 3,000 acres throughout Wednesday afternoon, forcing evacuations and road closures in Los Padres National Forest near Frazier Park.

The fire was burning in a southeasterly direction alongside Interstate 5, said Corey Wilford, spokesman for the Kern County Fire Department.

“We’re still sitting at about 10 percent containment,” he added.

The blaze in mountainous terrain was being driven by winds that gusted up to 20 mph amid very dry fuel conditions.

Hungry Valley State Park and Piru Creek have been evacuated, but no other structures are being threatened at the moment, he said.

Falcon Way, a road west of the 5 Freeway on which the school is located, was closed. Others roads leading toward Hungry Valley were being closed as well, Wilford said.

Frazier Mountain High School in Lebec was evacuated Wednesday afternoon, but the school is no longer in danger, Wilford said.

The incident is being handled as a “joint venture” by the Kern County Fire Department, the Ventura County Fire Department and the National Forest Service, Wilford said.

Los Angeles County Fire Department were called to the scene and then released earlier, but they are expected to be called in for night relief as a “passing of the baton.”

More than 200 firefighters were on scene from Kern, Los Angeles and Ventura county fire departments, as well as from the U.S. Forest Service and the federal Bureau of Land Management.

The fire had burned more than 750 acres within an hour. By 4 p.m., the Kern County Fire Department posted on its Facebook page that the fire was 2,500 acres. A spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County Fire Department said just before 5 p.m. that the blaze was more than 3,000 acres.

Five air tankers and four water-dropping helicopters were responding to the blaze.

“These guys have been going at it all day,” Wilford said, “so we need to get them some food at some point.”

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