Rough Fire is getting closer to Hume Lake

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- The Rough Fire is getting closer to Hume Lake. It has forced people to leave along with the Incident Command Center and there are hikers trapped on a mountain, behind the fire line.

The fire is burning just three miles away from Hume Lake, which is too close for the Incident Command Center.

"We're using all the tools in the toolbox we have as firefighters but the fire wants to come this way," said Mike Johnson, who is an information officer for the Rough Fire.

Firefighters had it set up at a Christian camp, on higher ground but on Wednesday, they packed everything up and moved it all to Dunlap.

Johnson said, "We have infrastructure in place, just in case we lose power or anything up here, we can still have that continuity of operations."

A lightning strike started the fire on July 31st. It was small for a while, but it grew exponentially this week. So far, close to 31,000 acres have burned and containment is at just 3 percent.

People, living, working and recreating around the lake have been evacuated but a group of hikers didn't get the notice. They're stuck behind the fire line, up in Cedar Grove Lodge. One of them has been posting pictures on Instagram and Twitter.

Stella Desjardins was further down the mountain with her family when firefighters told them to leave.

"We hooked up pretty quick and skedaddled, we were vagabonds, we didn't know where to go," Desjardins added.

She's on vacation from Torrance. Her son, Aiden says everything seemed ok when they got here but then, ash started falling from the sky.

Aiden Desjardins said, "It was just bright orange, there was barely any sun, it was just really bad."

Aiden and Stella found a place to sleep a little further from the fire. It's their first time up here and they still have two days left.

"The sequoias lit on fire, I'm definitely gonna remember this for a long time," the boy said.

It's a memorable moment for one kid but for firefighters, it's been a long day and there's no telling when the fire will stop burning.

The stranded hikers are with park rangers and they'll be escorted out, Thursday morning.