Placer County SAR volunteer shot while looking for missing hiker

A Placer County Search and Rescue volunteer was shot in the hip on Tuesday evening while out with a team searching for a 75-year-old missing hiker.

Steven Wolf was part of a three-person team searching between Brown and Fish Creek for the hiker who was last seen near the town of Washington on the South Yuba River. The other two members of Wolf's team found cover and radioed for help.

The Nevada County Sheriff’s Office, members of their Special Enforcement Detail and the California Highway Patrol helicopter were able to reach the three volunteers in rugged terrain and in complete darkness and extricate them by helicopter.

Wolf, 69-year-old, was transported by helicopter to a local trauma center where he underwent surgery and has been stabilized. The Placer County Sheriff’s Special Enforcement Team assisted in the operation and will continue to aid the Nevada County Sheriff’s ongoing investigation today.

Wolf, who lives in Newcastle, Calif., has been a SAR volunteer for more than 10 years and is a member of the Ground Search Team. He and the others were assisting the Nevada County Sheriff's Office in the search for the hiker.

"Our 240 Search and Rescue volunteers serve our communities selflessly and we are so proud they are a part of our Sheriff’s family," a post on the Sheriff's Office facebook page said. "Please keep Steve Wolf and his family in your thoughts, along with the deputies tasked with bringing the suspect to justice."