A man trapped in a snowstorm near the Wyoming/South Dakota border used the last bit of cell phone charge to send a text message calling for help. According to SnowBrains.com, the unnamed man had gone out looking for firewood on Monday and became stuck in the snow. He eventually ran out of both gas and cell phone battery charge, but his desperate text reached rescue personnel in the region.
Authorities knew they had to reach the individual and had to do a bit of detective work to know where to start looking. They were able to pin down the cell tower closest to his location and were still left searching for his location within a 20-mile radius of the tower. Continued snowstorms in the area had rescue personnel trekking through drifts of up to 48 inches in some spots, reports SnowBrains.com.
Fortunately, the extraordinary efforts of the emergency responders led to a rescue rather than a recovery when the stranded man was finally located on Thursday evening. A snowcat transported the man to a Hill City ambulance, which then delivered him to the hospital.
The combined resources of the Custer County Search and Rescue, Custer County Sheriff’s Office, Custer County Dispatch, Hill City Ambulance, Hill City Fire, Pennington County Sheriff’s Office, Pennington County Dispatch, and Weston County responders – and the cell tower that showed them where to look – all contributed to saving the life of the snowbound wood gatherer.
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