Woman who gave birth alone in California wildland says started fire for rescue
Source: Yahoo! News / Reuters
(Reuters) - A woman who gave birth alone and was stranded for days in a remote area of Northern California survived the ordeal by starting a fire that roared out of control and drew firefighters to her rescue, local media reported.
Officials with the Plumas National Forest confirmed on Tuesday that a fire broke out on Saturday at the park and that firefighters rescued a woman and a newborn baby from the burn area. They declined to discuss the cause of the fire, saying it was under investigation.
Amber Pangborn of Oroville, California, told television station KCRA that after realizing she might be going into labor, she drove along a back road to get to her parents' home for help only to get lost in a remote part of the Plumas National Forest.
"There was no cell phone service, there was nothing. And the car was out of gas," Pangborn told the station.
Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/woman-gave-birth-alone-california-wildland-says-started-213244665.html
Gregorian
(23,867 posts)Sedona
(3,769 posts)Origin and development[edit]
Initially there were two separate fires. The first fire, the Rodeo, was reported on the afternoon of June 18 near the Rodeo Fairgrounds on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation by Cibicue. An arsonist was arrested on June 29 and was later charged. By early evening, around 1,200 acres (1.9 sq mi; 490 ha) were ablaze. Increasing wind speeds fed the fire to over 2,000 acres (3.1 sq mi; 810 ha) by the following morning, and when wind speeds increased to around 25 miles per hour (40 km/h) the fire grew rapidly, increasing fourfold over the next three hours.
The Chediski Fire was first reported on the morning of June 20 near Chediski Peak northwest of Payson. It had been started by a stranded quad runner, Valinda Jo Elliott, trying to signal a news helicopter. Similarly fed by the strong winds, this fire spread to 2,000 acres (3.1 sq mi; 810 ha) by mid-afternoon, and by the following morning it covered over 14,000 acres (22 sq mi; 5,700 ha).
By June 21 the Rodeo Fire had consumed around 150,000 acres (230 sq mi; 61,000 ha). Around 8,000 people were evacuated; by the end of the fire, around 30,000 people would be moved. The two burning areas approached through crosswinds over June 21 and June 22 as a further 11,000 people were ordered to leave their homes. The burning areas joined on June 23 having consumed around 300,000 acres (470 sq mi; 120,000 ha) of woodland. The fire's progress slowed after the two merged and by June 26 the fire was 5% contained by backburning, cutting and slurry protecting the settlements of Clay Springs, Linden and Pinedale, but 460,000 acres (720 sq mi; 190,000 ha) had burned. The fire was 28% contained by June 28, but it was not fully under control until July 7 at a cost of $43.1 million.[3] About 400 homes were destroyed in Pinedale and other small communities. The fire was declared a disaster area. RodeoFire.com was established at the fire's onset as a portal for concerned citizens and family members acting as an event update website.
gvstn
(2,805 posts)This lady was lucky her fire only took a quarter acre. But she still was extremely lucky the winds didn't change do more damage or send the fire towards her and the child.
The police and fire marshal don't seem that upset but there is something off with this story. A very pregnant woman goes out in area she is not familiar with on less than a full tank of gas. Takes a rumored shortcut. Gets lost, runs out of gas. Is only a short distance from her mother's house and nobody reports her missing for three days? Then she births the baby, doesn't cut/clamp the umbilical cord, and doesn't feed the baby for three days? Something just not right.
csziggy
(34,139 posts)Some of the story:
After visiting the casino, she decided to head home, but she turned on the wrong road and ran out of gas, her mother said. She was forced to give birth to her baby in the forest.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-woman-lost-forest-20150630-story.html
Not feeding the baby - maybe she had no milk - the Yahoo story says all she had for provisions were "three apples, a bottle of water and a can of soda." She may not have known what to do with the umbilical cord - lots of people wouldn't.
FailureToCommunicate
(14,027 posts)idea of the surrounding potential burn area and wind direction...
But it sounds like she might at least be able to get a good movie script out of it.
And...she's gotta name the kid Phoenix or Prometheus!