Missing hiker is found after 5 days when he starts brush fire

An injured hiker who had been missing for five days was rescued near Lake Arrowhead on Sunday after he started what turned into a small brush fire.

Rodney Trumbo, 55, was reported missing Tuesday when he didn’t return from a hike in the San Bernardino Mountains, the San Bernardino Sun reported. He had used a cellphone to call his girlfriend to tell her he was injured. Trumbo also complained of being dehydrated and in pain.

Rescue crews spotted Trumbo after responding to a brush fire that burned a 20-foot-by-30-foot area, the Sun reported. The fire was quickly extinguished while Trumbo was flown by helicopter to a nearby hospital.

San Bernardino Fire Battalion Chief Nathan Cooke told the paper that Trumbo had made the hike many times before, “but on this trek he got hurt.”

It wasn’t immediately clear how he got injured.

Meanwhile, Alyof Krost, a 62-year-old tourist from Germany, remains missing after he was separated from his party Oct. 1 while on the Pinnacle Trail in north Lake Arrowhead.

Krost was described as an experienced hiker and hunter who was last seen by his party about 5:45 p.m. He was wearing a light blue long-sleeve shirt, dark blue jeans and lightweight hiking shoes. He had no other equipment.

Anyone with information on his case is asked to call the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department’s Twin Peaks station at (909) 336-0600.

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jason.wells@latimes.com