Updated: Firefighter rescues tiny injured bear from Moon Fire

A little bundle of frightened and singed fur, dubbed Smokey Jr., was rescued this morning from the hot ashes of the Moon Fire. A 15-pound badly dehydrated bear cub was suffering serious burns to all four paws and crying for its missing mother, when it was found late Thursday morning by a California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection firefighter. The cub, which also had an eye injury, has been taken to a wildlife rescue shelter in Rancho Cordova where it is hoped it will be nursed back to health. Doug Lannon, a Cal Fire battalion chief and public information officer for the Shasta-Trinity Lightning Complex, said that field observer Adam Deem, 32, of Anderson, came across the cub while scouting the northwest flank of the Moon Fire in the Grass Valley Creek area near the Buckhorn Summit. Deem is a forester for Cal... [read full story]