911 Dispatch in Josephine County received a call Saturday night July 4th, at approximately 8:30pm from a female stating she was stranded in her vehicle with a flat tire on an unidentified forest service road.
The caller was lost and unable to provide her location. Dispatch pinged her phone to an area near Swede Basin in the Kalmiopsis Wilderness and Josephine County Sheriff’s Office and Search & Rescue searched the forest service roads in that area unsuccessfully until 4:30am.
At 7:30am Sunday morning, 911 received a second call from the subject and dispatch was able to ping the individuals phone with better coordinates which were different from the previous search area.
Josephine County Search & Rescue then deployed to the new location and at 11:30am, searchers located two unoccupied vehicles with hand written notes left on the visors asking for help.
Searchers continued to the end of this remote forest service road and located the female and her vehicle alive and well.
She stated she attempted to drive over to the coast, lost her way and had been stranded in that location since Thursday, July 2nd. She also stated that she without cell service and that she had run out of water the day before.
Josephine County Sheriff’s Office Search & Rescue would like to remind everyone to be prepared when driving in back country and remember that cell phone service is unreliable and spotty at best. Fortunately, the subject remained with her vehicle which made it easier for searchers to locate and rescue her.
