The sad but sure signs of summer-like weather have arrived in Jefferson County: brush fires and water rescues.

Officials with East Jefferson Fire Rescue said Saturday that firefighters were dispatched to four brush fires in the previous six days.

Emergency responders in Brinnon were called out Sunday for a river rescue incident after two people flipped over on a raft in the Dosewallips River.

The pair clung to a pile of perched driftwood in the middle of the Dosewallips until members of the Brinnon and Quilcene fire departments conducted a technical rope rescue.

Brinnon Fire Chief Tim Manly said Brinnon was dispatched to the river at the same time emergency responders were handling an incident where an 80-year-resident sustained severe head injuries after falling off a porch. That person was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center and was later found to have suffered a broken neck.

Manly said the first report for the two people trapped in the river came at 3:45 p.m. Mother’s Day, and emergency responders were initially told a 12-year-old and an 8-year-old were in danger.

Firefighters soon learned that it was a 12-year-old and an adult who had been in a raft that overturned, but the adult was medically frail.

The pair were on a small driftwood-covered island in the middle of the river, Manly said, which couldn’t be reached by responders from the beach at Dosewallips State Park.

Getting a water rescue rope throw bag to the pair didn’t work, he said.

“We tried to use our standard throw bags but they couldn’t reach the throw bags,” Manly said.

While the water was only 18 inches deep, the slippery rocks on the river bottom were too much for the stranded rafters to negotiate. They were eventually pulled to shore at the side of a firefighter who was secured on a line to other emergency responders.

Once on shore, the adult was taken to an aid unit and responders found he had a core temperature of 95 degrees.

“He was already suffering from hypothermia,” Manly said.

The man was put in the back of the rig, stripped down, and wrapped in a thermal blanket. The temperature inside the aid car was then turned up until it hit 99 degrees.

The child was also warmed back up, and after about an hour, emergency workers determined they did not need to be transported for additional medical care and were released.

Manly said people should remember that even though the weather may be hot, rivers are not.

The water in the river is winter snow melt, with the Dosewallips less than 35 degrees in some locations.

“It’s ice cold. It’s ‘hurts’ cold,” he said.

Officials with East Jefferson Fire Rescue are also urging precautions as dry and warmer weather continues.

Two of the fires last week were started by people using weed burners to clean up around their property.

While another of the blazes was attributed to a blown fuse on a power pole, another fire started in “beauty bark,” but the cause is still undetermined.

Officials said propane weed burners are illegal in many areas of Jefferson County, and afternoon winds can easily spread sparks and burning embers.