A baker’s dozen of young hikers missing near a Lake Tahoe-area wildfire were spotted from a police helicopter Monday morning soon after first light and led to safety by search-and-rescue volunteers.
“They’re fine,” said Placer County Sheriff’s office spokeswoman Elise Soviar. “We’re thankful that we found them first thing this morning.”
The 13 hikers from the Sacramento area, aged 16 to 20, were located about two miles from the Royal Fire, which ignited near where they started their hike then burned across the trail behind them, authorities said.
Police and fire personnel were alerted to the group’s presence in the fire zone Sunday night when they found their vehicles parked at the Palisades Creek trailhead near Soda Springs, Soviar said.
Police contacted family members of the hikers who told them the group planned to hike and camp along Palisades Creek Trail, which the Sheriff’s office described as passing through “steep and difficult terrain.”
When located, the hikers were far enough from the flames to be “not in imminent danger,” Soviar said.Video posted by the Sheriff’s office showed the group, from the Sacramento area, in a clearing above a creek beside the Palisades Creek trail in rocky, rough terrain.
Two search-and-rescue volunteers were flown in by helicopter Monday morning and led the group away from the fire along a trail to Cascade Lakes near I-80. The hikers arrived in two groups, one around noon Monday and the other around 2:30 p.m., Soviar said.
“They were reunited with their families and parents and a couple of them were taken back to pick up their cars,” Soviar said.
The Royal Fire started Sunday afternoon south of I-80, according to Cal Fire. By Monday afternoon, it had burned about 170 acres, with some homes under evacuation warning and containment was listed as at zero-percent. Cal Fire was fighting the blaze by air and ground, and the cause remained under investigation.
