CAL Fire helicopter 404 at Columbia Air Base
Tuolumne County, CA – A group of 14 backpackers, some teens, had to be rescued from the Emigrant Wilderness after a wicked storm blew through the area.
CAL Fire reports that the Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue (TCSAR) team and its Columbia-based helicopter evacuated the hikers to safety. The rescue took place on Thursday (July 1), but a 911 personal locator beacon alert came into the sheriff’s dispatch, late Wednesday (June 30). They detailed that a sudden severe thunderstorm producing heavy rain, hail and lightning, leaving some in the group needing medical attention.
Meanwhile, in the Big Oak Flat area near Groveland, Cal Fire ground and aircraft were battling the ten-acre Vernal Fire, detailed here.
Updated Vernal Fire in the Big Flat Oak area of Tuolumne County 5:50 p.m.
Update at 6:24 p.m.: Firefighters have stopped the forward progress of the Vernal Fire at 10 acres, according to CAL Fire spokesperson Emily Kilgore. Rugged, steep terrain had made it hard for ground crews to get hose line around the blaze, but aircraft was able to drop retardant around the entire fire to assist firefighters.
The flames broke out around 4 p.m. in some grass between Priest-Coulterville and Merrell roads in the Big Oak Flat area of Tuolumne County, which is south of Highway 120 and west of Highway 49. What ignited the fire remains under investigation. Kilgore relays that crews will remain on scene to gain full containment and then mop up for the next couple of hours.