A brush fire dubbed the Buzzard Fire ignited around 8:29 a.m. Wednesday near the Grapevine stretch of Interstate 5 in Kern County, and it had grown to about 180 acres by mid-morning, prompting evacuation orders for the Lebec area. No injuries had been reported as of 11:50 a.m., and the fire's cause remained under investigation. Cal Fire placed the blaze on land between the Grapevine and Tejon Ranch.
According to CBS News Los Angeles, the Kern County Sheriff's Office put an evacuation order into effect and separately issued an evacuation warning covering Interstate 5 north of Lebec Road. The sheriff's office warned that conditions could change very quickly, that visibility might drop, and that roads could become blocked, advising residents who need extra time to leave right away.
Blaze Grew From 30 to 180 Acres in Under Two Hours
The fire expanded fast, growing from about 30 acres to roughly 180 acres by 10 a.m., per CBS News Los Angeles's account of the incident. It started roughly 1.5 miles south of mile marker 8 along southbound I-5 and spread through dry roadside grass at a moderate pace, according to GV Wire. The California Highway Patrol closed the far-right southbound lane of I-5 near Lebec to give firefighting crews safe access, backing up traffic along the Grapevine.
Kern County emergency officials mapped the warning area under Genasys Protect Zone KRN-535, bounded by Temescal Drive and Digier Road to the north, the Golden State Freeway to the south and west, and Grapevine Road to the east, according to the Kern County Fire Department. The department launched the countywide Genasys Protect system in August 2023 to replace informal neighborhood descriptions with standardized zone codes like KRN-535, aimed at speeding up how quickly alerts reach residents.
Alert Systems and the Vast Tejon Ranch Backdrop
Kern County also partners with Deaf Link's Accessible Hazard Alert System to automatically translate wildfire warnings into American Sign Language, English, Spanish, and Braille-accessible formats, per Kern County. The system is meant to make sure evacuation notices like Wednesday's reach residents regardless of language or disability.
The fire burned along the edge of Tejon Ranch, an expansive private property in Lebec that spans more than 270,000 acres across Kern and Los Angeles counties, making it the largest contiguous parcel of privately owned land in California, according to SFGATE. The ranch spans four distinct bioregions and supports cattle grazing, agriculture, commercial development and conservation land, the outlet reports, while Interstate 5 through the Tejon Pass carries millions of vehicles a year through the same steep, fire-prone terrain.
Third Fire in the Same Fire-Prone Corridor Since 2024
Wednesday's fire is not the first to threaten this stretch of Lebec. In June 2025, the 220-acre Fort Fire ignited in the same KRN-535 zone and Digier Canyon area, also forcing lane closures on southbound I-5 and evacuation warnings for residents, according to the Los Angeles Times. A year earlier, the far larger Post Fire scorched 15,563 acres near Gorman and Lebec, destroying three structures and forcing the evacuation of nearly 1,200 visitors from Hungry Valley State Vehicular Recreation Area over an 11-day firefight, per the California Department of Parks and Recreation.
The renewed fire activity comes as commercial development accelerates in the same corridor. Tejon Ranch Co. and Dedeaux Properties announced a joint venture in May to break ground on a 510,385-square-foot warehouse on 24.6 acres at the Tejon Ranch Commerce Center in Lebec, in Hoodline's earlier coverage of the project. The expanding logistics hub adds vehicle traffic and industrial infrastructure to a wildland-urban interface zone that has now seen three roadside-adjacent wildfires in as many years.
