A Maryland woman is recovering from hypothermia after staying in her snow-buried car for four days while a blizzard pounded the area, authorities said.
Fire and EMS units responded to a call Monday in Accokeek, Maryland, from a neighbor who was concerned that a car parked near his house had someone inside of it.
The car was parked on a side street that snow plows hadn’t been able to get to yet, so the Maryland National Guard was called in with a Humvee so that rescuers could reach the woman’s car in the deep snow.
When medics could finally reach the woman’s car, they found that the car was out of gas and all the woman had inside to keep her warm were a couple of blankets.
The Prince George’s County Fire Department said that the woman had apparently been living in her car “for some time,” even though she was parked on property that she owned.
The neighbor who called authorities echoed that observation, telling the Associated Press that the woman was living in her car because she lost her home and that she had turned down offers of assistance despite the impending storm.
Getting the woman out of her car to seek medical attention took some prodding, according to PGFD.
“While not totally agreeing to leave her vehicle, it was determined that transportation to the hospital was in her best interest for evaluation and treatment,” the department said in a statement.
Once rescue workers got her to a waiting ambulance, the woman was treated for hypothermia and taken to a hospital nearby. Her name has not been released.
