South Valley firefighters continue battling wildfire

FRESNO, Calif.

The blaze has burned at least 35 hundred acres so far.

It continues to burn, forcing the shut down of two schools.

Cal Fire crews in the air and on the ground have been working all day to try and suppress the Grand Fire burning in Kern County, Ventura County, Hungry Valley State Park and Los Angeles County.

"When I was coming in it was blowing towards the I5 corridor," Steve Kaufmann of the Ventura County Fire Dept. said.

Ventura County Firefighter Steve Kaufmann says the 35 hundred acre fire is now 15 percent contained thanks to the 1 thousand firefighters from all over the state who are in town to fight the fire and last night's high humidity and low winds. On Thursday crews were battling different weather.

"And then this morning the wind started to pick up a little bit and it started to pick up so we did see an increase in fire activity but we also had more units coming in this morning that were able to go out," Kaufmann said.

As firefighters work on getting a handle on the perimeter of the fire, Frazier Mountain High School evacuated students and then canceled school.

People who live in Frazier Park say wildfires seem to be the norm around here every year and they're always ready just in case they need to evacuate.

"We're always prepared we have stuff ready to go when we do so we always have a place to go," Catherine Baron of Frazier Park said.

"It's blowing away as you can see it's going that way so hopefully it'll be all gone soon," George Gomez of Frazier Park said.

We also learned this afternoon that Gormen Elementary School had to close its school because of the heavy smoke in the air affecting students.

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