Today's Article

Ashley describes the scary moment. She says her life 2flashed before her eyes Friday evening. 

"I was driving home one night and for some reason, I hit the 3edge of the road and I went straight into a deep part of the hill."

She says her car fell more than 30ft down an 4embankment around 10 o'clock off of Timber Road in Vernonia. Ashley says she mainly uses one side of her body 5due to a 6prior accident and believes she 7fell unconscious upon 8impact. 

"When I went down, I must've 9passed out and I hit the ground and the airbags went up. 

So how did 10emergency crews know her location? She says her phone sent an alert for help.

"And then iPhone really saved my life because I had SOS and it just automatically turned on."

Authorities say the 11alert came in as a quote, "vehicle accident, unknown injury" because the driver's Apple device 12sensed they may have been in an accident and automatically alerted the Columbia 911 Communications 13district. 

This allowed Vernonia Rural 14Fire Protection District and Metro West Ambulance Hillsborough to respond to the scene. 

"This is the first time we've experienced the call like that so this is all new to us."

Once crews located the truck, they say it was at the bottom of a 15steep embankment buried in heavy brush. 

"We 16activated our rope 17rescue teams through 18mutual aid agreements with Banks fire and Miss Birkenfeld fire."