Eight firefighters hurt in California wildfire are out of hospital

By Kevin Murphy (Reuters) - Eight firefighters who suffered minor injuries while battling a wildfire in northern California were released from a hospital early on Saturday, a fire official said. The firefighters were battling a fire that was triggered by lightening in Mendocino County and has caused the evacuation of 58 homes, said Lynne Tolmachoff, spokeswoman California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The fire, which is still burning, is in a heavily timbered, rugged area 160 miles north of San Francisco, according to a state's Cal Fire website. The firefighters - three of whom are from Santa Clara County and five are inmates from an area minimum security prison - suffered 1st and 2nd degree burns on various parts of their bodies and were airlifted to a hospital at the University of California, Davis, on Friday, Tolmachoff said. “They all seemed fine,” Tolmachoff said, adding that an investigation has been opened into how the firefighters incurred their injuries, which were relatively minor. Nearly 2,000 people are working to contain the blaze, which has scorched more than 7,100 acres and is 30 percent contained, according to the Cal Fire website. The fire began on July 30. (Reporting by Kevin Murphy in Kansas City; Editing by Edith Honan and Steve Orlofsky)