Woman Rescued After Her Vehicle Went Off A Cliff In Placer County

PLACER COUNTY (CBS13) — A Rocklin woman is recovering after being rescued by Cal Fire crews from the side of a cliff near Blue Canyon Road where she had been stuck overnight.

The woman was located when she called for help Friday morning. She drove off the road and her SUV crashed down the cliffside Thursday night.

CHP helicopter video shows the incredible sight of her SUV hanging on the side of the cliff.

Rescuers used the ping from her cell phone to find her.

"It's improbable anybody would survive," CHP Sergeant Viktor Scrivner said. "She had spent the evening, over the embankment, almost a sheer drop, her vehicle landed in a tree, she was able to spend the night in her car."

Photos show CAL FIRE crews rescuing the woman, identified by the CHP as 46-year-old Jeanie Timms.

Swipe through pictures from the rescue below

Crews hoisted Timms up the cliffside on a stretcher. Incredibly, she suffered no serious injuries. The SUV, which was also pulled from the cliffside, had come to rest in the branches of a tree, likely saving Timms' life.

"The vehicle launched off the roadway, and is suspended in the tree," Scrivner said.

The crash down the cliff was loud enough that Joanne Bailey heard it from her home in the darkness of night from half-a-mile away. She called 911 to report the sounds.

"I knew something was wrong, seriously wrong," Bailey said.

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Bailey went to sleep wondering what it was.  In the daylight, she came to the crash scene, and learned about the incredible rescue, and that the driver is okay.

"That's shocking," Bailey said. "I'm glad. Great news."

A cliffhanger with a miracle ending. Rescue crews locating a driver who spent the night in her crashed SUV on the side of a mountain... and she's alive.

Sergeant Scrivner says they still don't know what led up to the vehicle going over the side of the cliff. The CHP is investigating and the driver is cooperating.

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