Willow girl safe after angry jaunt in the woods |
| December 28, 2013 |
| As is their wont, a pre-teen Willow girl stormed out of her
house Thursday afternoon after an argument with family members.
In Alaska in December, however, such a common childish reaction
can prove dangerous quickly. Alaska State Troopers were called to the Caswell Loop area at 6:02 p.m. December 27, about an hour and a half after the girl left her home and after her family had spent more than an hour searching for her with no success. A state trooper out of Talkeetna donned snowshoes and found her at about 8:52 p.m., nearly a mile off the nearest road and showing early signs of hypothermia and frostbite. A Willow ambulance crew was on-scene and she was brought aboard, reunited with her worried family and warmed up, she was otherwise uninjured. She explained that she became lost in the woods after darkness fell. Fortunately, the below zero temperatures of last week had warmed into the mid to upper teens, with a wind chill making it seem two degrees out. |