By Ed Fletcher
efletcher@sacbee.com
A trip back from Thunder Valley turned into a long night for an area woman after a wrong turn left her in a ravine as police and firefighter struggled to find her, a Roseville police spokeswoman said today.
The 66-year-old woman was driving back from the casino the Tuesday evening when she ran off the end of a dead-end road and rolled into a ditch.
According to authorities, she first called her wireless provider at 611 -- it's unclear whether by accident or on purpose. That call to a Salt Lake City call center was eventually sent to Salt Lake's emergency dispatch center.
She called 911 at 9:05 p.m. which was received by Roseville's dispatch center, said Dee Dee Gunther a spokeswoman for the Roseville Police Department.
The woman reported that she was somewhere on Fiddyment Road in Roseville or Walerga Road in Sacramento County, sparking an emergency response from several agencies.
A call to woman's wireless provider helped narrow the search area, but without an exact location and the car not visible from the roadway emergency responders asked the 911 operator alert them when their blaring sirens got louder.
But before the police and firefighters could find her, a freelance journalist, who heard the scanner chatter, reached the scene and called emergency personnel at 9:42 p.m.
Gunther said the woman ran through a dead-end sign on Blue Oaks Drive near Fiddyment Road, plunging into a ravine 250 feet from the roadway.
"He called us and the firefighters rescued her," Gunther said. "And he took video."
Gunther questioned online reports stating the woman was trapped for three hours.
"It sounds like she was a little disoriented," Gunther said. "So I don't know how long she was in the car."
The woman was treated and release from an area hospital that evening, Gunther said.
Call The Bee's Ed Fletcher, (916) 321-1269.
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