Photo by Douglas J. Lannon, Cal-Fire

TENDER PAUSE: Adam Deem, 32, of Anderson holds a 8.5-pound bear cub, dubbed Lil’ Smokey, that is more interested in a sugary sucker and some water than in finding its missing mother. The cub was found burned, injured, badly dehydrated, hungry and alone in the Moon Fire close to Buckhorn Summit.

Anderson firefighter Adam Deem, 32, rescued a frightened, singed and badly dehydrated bear cub — dubbed L’il Smokey — from the hot ashes of the Moon Fire late Thursday morning, July 17.

The 8.5-pound animal was suffering from serious burns to all four paws and crying for its missing mother , said Deems, a forester for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection’s northern region office.

The cub, which also had an eye injury, was taken to a wildlife rescue shelter in Rancho Cordova, then taken to Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care in South Lake Tahoe. The organization is accepting donations to help in the bear’s recovery, which can be followed on-line at www.ltwc.org.

Doug Lannon, a Cal-Fire battalion chief and public information officer for the Shasta-Trinity Lightning Complex, said that Deem, who was working as a field observer marking fire lines and hotspots, came across the cub while scouting the northwest flank of the Moon Fire in the Grass Valley Creek area near the Buckhorn Summit.

The bear cub “was tottering down the trail,” said Deem, who initially pulled out his camera to photograph the six-month-old animal.

That was when Deem noticed the injuries.

“The bear lifted its paw and held it” in the air, allowing Deem to notice raw, red patches on its paw pads.

Deem searched the area unsuccessfully for the cub’s mother. Eventually, he was able to grab the scared and injured cub, scratching his own hands in the heavy brush.

Deem wrapped the bear in his fire-fighting jacket and cradled the cub in his arms as he drove his pickup to a fire-fighting staging area. From there, he and the cub were driven to a Fire Incident Command Center at the Shasta District Fair grounds in Anderson.

“He was really scared,” Deem said, adding that he comforted, petted and sweet-talked the little cub all the way to the command center,

The bear was treated for dehydration by the command center’s medical unit where it also enjoyed licking a lollipop before a state Fish & Game wildlife biologist picked the young animal up for a trip to the Sacramento area rescue shelter.

“He (Deem) had a pretty good rapport with it,” said Lannon. “They bonded very well.”

“He was giving me some kisses,” Deem said.

Unfortunately, some of those licks were on Deem’s scratched hands, which later forced him to undergo preventative treatment for rabies at Shasta Regional Medical Center in Redding.

Deem said he received five rabies shots and will need four more shots through next month.

But the shots did not hurt all that much and he’s unfazed by the additional ones he will need, he said.

“It’s absolutely worth it,” Deem said. “I don’t think anyone could have left that animal out there in that condition.”

The cub’s plight is similar to that of the original Smokey Bear, who was rescued by firefighters in 1950 in New Mexico.

Deem’s 33-year-old wife, Celeste, is more than a little proud of her husband.

“I think it’s great,” she said. “He is the total animal person.”