One Injured in Wilderness Fire Which Started as Two Local Hikers Were Rescued

Press release from Six Rivers National Forest Service:

Due to the hard work of firefighters, as well as to 0.20 inch of rain, only a few smokes remain within the perimeter of the Wilderness Fire. Contained since last Friday, the 34-acre fire is burning in the Marble Mountain Wilderness on the Six Rivers National Forest. Firefighters GPS’d the fire perimeter on Saturday for a more accurate acreage.

Challenges for firefighters included very steep terrain, heavy fuels and standing dead trees. There has been one injury so far, a slip on wet leaf litter, and two cases of poison oak, one severe.

Since Saturday, multiple resources have been demobilized; however, the fire remains staffed with one handcrew, two engines, and one helicopter. Today, firefighters will continue mopping up. Mop up involves extinguishing or removing burning material near control lines, felling dead standing trees, and creating trenches to prevent logs and other material from rolling downhill after an area has burned. Mop up makes the fire area safer and reduces residual smoke.

A fire investigator will arrive today to investigate the cause of the fire. For information about the search and rescue of the hikers found in the area where the fire started, please contact the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office at (530) 842-2900.

We will share additional information as it becomes available.