Woman says she started wildfire to bring help after getting lost, delivering baby alone in the forest



OROVILLE, Calif. (AP) — Authorities rescued a woman and her newborn baby after her family says she gave birth in a remote national forest in Northern California.

The U.S. Forest Service says it found a mother and an infant Saturday while responding to a brush fire in the Plumas National Forest. Amber Pangborn's mother says her daughter lit the fire Saturday as a call for help.

Pangborn's mother says her daughter gave birth to the baby in the backseat of her car early Thursday after getting lost on a remote forest road and running out of gas. Forest Service officials couldn't immediately confirm that she was stranded for three days.

Pangborn's mother says her daughter survived on apples and water.

The baby is being treated at the University of California, Davis medical center. Pangborn was released from the hospital Monday.

Pangborn told KCRA-TV that after she gave birth she had to fight off bees and mosquitoes attracted by the placenta.

The LA Times spoke with Pangborn's mother who told the newspaper her daughter had driven to a casino on Wednesday to visit a friend and try to escape the heat.  According to the Times Pangborn was the headed home when she took that wrong turn, ran out of gas and was forced to give birth alone in the forest.

“They would have never found her if she didn’t start the fire,” her mother told the Times. “She was worried what the wild animals would do.”