iPhone alert of possible crash in Baker County was false alarm
iPhone alert of possible crash in Baker County was false alarm
Publish Date: 2026-05-14 09:25:00
Source Domain: bakercityherald.com
iPhone alert of possible crash in Baker County was false alarm
Published 6:25 am Thursday, May 14, 2026
BAKER CITY — An iPhone alert about a possible car crash, with a passenger trapped inside, prompted a rescue effort in Baker County on Tuesday afternoon, May 12, but the episode turned out to be a false alarm.
The phone that sent the automated message was in the pocket of a person operating a skid steer while helping to build a fence in southern Baker County near the Malheur County line, said Ashley McClay, public information officer for the Baker County Sheriff’s Office.
As the machine bounced around, jostling triggered the iPhone’s sensor that detects the types of rapid movement that can happen during a crash and can send an alert to a relay center that forwards the message to the nearest emergency dispatch office.
“These iPhone activations are not uncommon, but the wording in this particular message appeared more like a user attempting to send an intentional message,” McClay wrote in an email to the Baker City Herald.
Dispatchers called the cellphone several times after the alert, which came in around 12:53 p.m., but all calls went to voicemail, McClay wrote.
Sheriff Travis Ash called in six members of the sheriff’s office’s search and rescue team, along with Undersheriff Tim Durheim and Deputy Danny Downing. A LifeFlight helicopter also responded, as did the Burnt River Fire Department.
The location is in the Wendt Butte area, about 4 miles southwest of Bridgeport.
When Downing arrived in the area he found a man and explained the situation, McClay said.
The man told Downing a group of fence builders was working nearby, and he drove Downing to the work site in his side-by-side.
Downing talked to the group, including the skid steer operator, and it became clear that the driver didn’t realize his iPhone had sent…
