The incident occurred at approximately 12 pm Monday, Feb. 22 at Schiller Park, Illinois, a suburban community in northwest Chicago, when an unnamed lady in her 50's had gone outside to shovel snow in her backyard and the temptations of her house suddenly gave way and came back down on top of heraccording to the Schiller Park Fire Department.
"She was trying to call for assistance, but being her mind was inside of the awning, nobody managed to hear ," Chief Michael Cesaretti of this Schiller Park Fire Department told ABC News' Chicago station WLS-TV in a interview about the crash.
The girl spent more than 10 hours trapped by the awning and beneath several feet of snow and ice in temperatures hovering around the mid-40s, far warmer than a week previous whenever the temperatures were between 4 and 19 degrees Fahrenheit at the area.
Firefighters told WLS after the accident that if this had occurred last week, the outcome could have been much more serious and that the warmer temperatures most likely saved the sufferer from injuries associated with being out in the cold for an elongated time period.
The woman was eventually found when a relative arrived at approximately 10:30 p.m. and found her, according to WLS.
"[The] Schiller Park Police and Fire Department quickly began rescue efforts to eliminate as much ice and snow in the awning to take some of their weight off her thighs," the Schiller Park Fire Department said in a statement. "[The] Fire Department then placed struts for equilibrium, used the multi-force air bag method to lift the awning and free the individual."
"Most of the snow was on top of the awning, and it did make a small void space under the awning therefore she managed to still convey," Cesaretti explained.
The woman remained conscious the entire time and was subsequently transported to Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, Illinois, in stable state.
Firefighters told WLS that they expect this incident is going to be a reminder for people to be aware of their environment.
"There might not be any warning signals," Cesaretti told WLS. "So we're just asking people to know, what is over your head."
