Ottawa firefighters use cellphone signals to find lost hikers
Ottawa firefighters used cellphone signals to help rescue two people who got lost in the South March Highlands Conservation Forest Saturday as it got dark.
The hikers called 911 around 5:18 p.m. and said they had wandered onto some ice and could hear it cracking. The area was unfamiliar to them and they said they didn’t want to cross the ice a second time. It was around -12 C with a wind chill of -19 at the time and the sun had set about a half hour earlier.
The dispatcher told the hikers to stay where they were so that first responders could use their cellphone signal to find them. A map showing the caller’s location was sent to firefighters’ phones.
Cellphone signals are a common tool dispatchers use to help locate 911 callers in a variety of situations.
A map shared by Ottawa Fire Services showed the hikers were in a section of the forest about a kilometre away from Old Second Line Road and Klondike Road.
Using the map, firefighters made their way toward the two hikers and found them just before 6 p.m. They were unharmed and brought out of the forest safely.
Tips for hiking in winter:
- Tell someone where you are going and what time you expect to be back
- Always plan your route ahead of time and print a map as back up. Cell phone batteries die much quicker in cold weather.
- Dress according to the weather and always bring water and food.
- Always hike with another person.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Liberal MP says she's leaving politics over disrespectful dialogue, threats, misogyny
Liberal MP Pam Damoff says she won't run again in the next federal election, saying she has experienced misogyny, disrespectful dialogue in politics and threats to her life.
Concerns about Plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall Plexiglass barriers.
Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Ont. woman who faked pregnancy to defraud doulas arrested again on similar charges
Victims of a Brantford, Ont., woman who was sentenced to house arrest earlier this year for defrauding and deceiving doulas say they’re not surprised she’s been apprehended again on similar charges.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Poilievre returns to House unrepentant for calling Trudeau 'wacko,' Speaker not resigning
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Construction begins on LGBTQ2S+ national monument in Ottawa
Shovels have hit the ground for constuction on Canada's LGBTQ2S+ national monument in Ottawa.
B.C. man awarded $5,000 in damages in first-of-it-kind intimate image case
In a first-of-its-kind case, a B.C. tribunal has ruled on a dispute involving the non-consensual sharing of intimate images, awarding damages and issuing orders that the photos be destroyed and taken offline.