Pinned under a tree, 66-year-old man amputates own leg
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
(06-06) 13:28 PDT IOWA HILL, Calif. (AP) --
Residents are pulling for a neighbor who was forced to amputate his left leg below the knee using pocket knives after a tree fell on him, pinning him for about 11 hours.
Al Hill, 66, was cutting trees on a property near the Big Dipper Mine last Friday when a tree fell on his leg and trapped him, authorities said. Alone in the woods and in an area where cellular phone service is spotty or nonexistent, Hill was forced to take the extreme measure to save himself.
Eventually, a neighbor in the area heard Hill's cries for help. Eric Bookey declined to talk about the events.
"Only me, Al and God were there that day," he said.
Bookey had to go nearly two miles to get a cellular signal and make an emergency call, which came in to the all-volunteer fire department about 7:30 p.m., Iowa Hill Fire Chief Luana Dowling told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
Bookey and a neighbor loaded Hill into a truck and took him to an emergency landing site in town, where a helicopter met them and took him to Sutter Roseville Medical Center, where he underwent amputation surgery, Dowling said.
She said it was hard to believe Hill didn't go into shock.
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http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/06/06/state/n132845D67.DTL