Bear bites sleeping firefighter

grizzly bear
File image of a grizzly bear in Denali National Park. Photo by Bill Gabbert.

Tuesday night a bear bit a sleeping firefighter who was trying to get some rest between shifts while assigned to a wildfire near McCall, Idaho. The firefighter was taken to the hospital, treated for minor wounds and released, then he returned to work, according to Forest Service officials.

A bear believed to be the perp was later trapped and euthanized. Idaho Fish and Game will check to see if DNA from the bear matches saliva the animal left on the firefighter’s small tent, known as a bivvy sack that he was sleeping in when the bite occurred. However, it’s uncertain whether there will be enough DNA on the bivvy sack to get a match.

Fish and Game had reports of a bear in the area raiding garages and causing property damage. Agency personnel had set a trap prior to the bear biting the firefighter, but hadn’t been able to catch it.

In June, 2015 a firefighter working on the Juneau Lake Fire in the Chugach National Forest in Alaska sustained minor injuries in a bear encounter. The firefighter was transported by a life med helicopter from the remote Juneau Lake site (map) to a hospital in Anchorage. The firefighter walked from the encounter site to the helicopter and was treated at the hospital for animal bites.

In 2008 a firefighter working on the LeHardy fire in Yellowstone National Park received some minor injuries from an encounter with a grizzly bear which may have been trying to leave the fire area but the firefighter was unknowingly in its path. The firefighter was treated and released at the Yellowstone Clinic.

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Author: Bill Gabbert

After working full time in wildland fire for 33 years, he continues to learn, and strives to be a Student of Fire.

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