From the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office:

On Sunday, November 27, 2016 at about 11:25 a.m. the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office received a report of a woman stuck in a fifth wheel trailer that was snowed in approximately 30 miles out on Route 1.  The rescuee had been in the trailer since Friday, November 25, 2016.  She had no means of evacuating herself from the area after a heavy snowfall.

Special Services Deputies responded and realized they were unable to drive to woman’s location.  A snow cat was deployed on Monday morning from the area of Hwy 36 in Mad River while units responded via 4-wheel drive truck from Hwy 299, Titlow Hill.  The Sheriff’s Office snow cat was unable to continue due to snow levels at approximately mile marker 44 on Route 1.  Deputies were unable to go beyond mile marker 20 from Hwy 299 due to snow levels, and snow drifts were too much to push through from the Hwy 36 side. 

PG&E was contacted on Monday and assistance was requested for use of their snow cat.  They responded at 1:00 a.m. on Tuesday morning.  The lengthy response for the PG&E snow cat was due to road conditions.  Deputies, with the assistance of PG&E, responded to the area of mile marker 30 of Route 1.  They searched the area described by the reporting party throughout the night and were unable to locate the subject. 

Later that morning, the California Highway Patrol (CHP) airbase in Redding was contacted and assistance was requested.  At about 11:30 a.m. the CHP helicopter arrived at the command station and met with deputies.  At about 12:23 p.m. the CHP helicopter located the rescuee. Due to low fuel levels, the helicopter had to refuel in Arcata before it would be able to extricate the rescuee.  The CHP helicopter returned to the scene and hoisted the rescuee from her location.

The rescuee was taken to a local hospital where she was medically cleared.  She was running out of supplies and the situation would have become dire if she had not been rescued.

The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office would like to send a generous thank you to the local PG&E office and the California Highway Patrol for their assistance in extricating this individual.