Apple’s tried and true “Find My” feature on the iPhone led rescuers to an injured car crash victim in San Bernardino, California. A woman heading home on Sunday night after a Christmas gathering was involved in a car crash, falling 200 feet down a hill on the side of the road.
When family members noticed that the woman had not made it home and was not responding, they used Find My to locate her. When they saw the car appeared to be in a location over the side of the highway on the map, they contacted emergency services to get help.
The story was relayed by the San Bernardino County Fire Department in a Facebook post. (Via AppleInsider) The woman turned out to have been severely injured and she had spent the night in the vehicle after the crash.
This morning, #SBCoFD firefighters were dispatched to a reported traffic collision on Highway 18, north of 40th Street in the city of San Bernardino. The 911 caller stated they had located a vehicle over the side & well off the roadway. The call was balanced to an, “Over the Side Rescue” assignment to bring additional personnel and equipment.
Arriving crews found a vehicle approximately 200 feet below the roadway. Firefighter-Paramedics descended down to the vehicle and located one adult female with serious injuries. Crews initiated advanced life support (ALS) interventions while arriving rescuers set up a rope system to safely raise the victim and rescuers. Firefighters utilized specialized Urban Search & Rescue (USAR) equipment, including a capstan raising system to safely haul the members up. Once raised to safety the patient was loaded into an awaiting ambulance for transport to a local trauma center.
The patient had likely been in her crashed vehicle overnight after leaving a family gathering. Family members became concerned after not speaking with her this morning and utilized Apple’s “Find my iPhone” feature to track her whereabouts. Upon investigating the phone’s location they found the vehicle over the side & called 911.
San Bernardino County Fire responded with three Engines, a Heavy Rescue, Truck Company & one Battalion Chief.
While two of the headline features for this year’s iPhone 14 include automatic Crash Detection and Emergency SOS via Satellite, those features are limited to the iPhone 14. However, Find My has been around for years and is available on basically all iPhones. Luckily, the crash victim had been sharing her location with her family, which allowed them to locate her.
