ERSKINE FIRE STILL GROWING

The Erskine Fire near Lake Isabella has grown to nearly 30-square miles and is still zero percent contained. Kern County Fire Captain Mike Nichols says at least 100 buildings have been lost since Thursday afternoon, including about 80 homes, and the damage is still being tallied. He also says there are now about 600 fire personnel on the scene and many hundreds more are enroute. Cell phone service and power is out for much of the area. Evacuations have been ordered for Bella Vista, South Fork, Weldon, Onyx, Lakeland Estates, Mountain Mesa, South Lake, Squirrel Valley and Yankee Canyon, and precautionary evacuations are out for Kelso Valley and Lake Isabella. The fire threatens about 15-hundred homes. SuzG