A sailor trying to hail a rescue copter using flares to write “S.O.S” may have been the cause of a wildfire on Santa Rosa Island. Santa Rosa is one of the islands that makes up Channel Islands National Park off the coast of California.
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According to the Coast Guard Air Station Ventura, aircrew successfully rescued the 67-year-old mariner after his sailboat crashed into the rocks at Santa Rosa on Friday. Photos of the rescue show “S.O.S” burned into the landscape.
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“The mariner was uninjured and successfully hoisted aboard at 10:38 a.m. after spending the night stranded on the island where a fire had also been reported,” wrote the Coast Guard Air Station Ventura in an Instagram post. “The aircrew located the mariner, deployed a rescue swimmer, and hoisted him to safety before transferring him to awaiting medical personnel at Camarillo Airport.”
The agency also says: “The outbreak of the fire is under investigation.”
However, Cal Fire lists the cause of the Santa Rosa Island Fire, which has already burned over 14,600 acres, as “human.”
See photos and videos from the rescue of a stranded sailor in Channel Islands National Park, where a fire is currently burning below.
This situation is evolving, and details may change.
Header stock image of Santa Rosa Island by kellyvandellen/Getty Images
