The Rattlesnake Fire was a wildfire started by an arsonist on July 9, 1953 in Grindstone Canyon in Mendocino National Forest in California. The wildfire killed one Forest Service employee and fourteen volunteer firefighters from New Tribes Mission, and burned over 1,300 acres (5.3 km) before being extinguished on July 11, 1953. It became a well-known firefighting textbook case.