Imagine you are stranded in the woods with no way to call for help. An unnamed man in Saskatchewan found himself in just such a position, but he figured out a plan that worked. He cut down some power line poles! Several hundred people in Wollaston Lake and Hatchet Lake Denesuline Nation lost electrical power for two days. But the power company found the lost traveler.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/saskatchewan/story/2010/05/31/sk-power-pole-survival-1005.html -via Fark
"He was found under his boat in a very distressed state, so essentially he was stranded for a number of days and just desperate for people to know where he was," SaskPower spokesman James Parker said.
The man reported he had been on a boat on the lake when he hit bad weather. He ended up stranded in the bush, with no way to communicate with the outside world, Parker said.
But he had an axe and he knew SaskPower would have to check the downed line, so he went to work.
"Essentially it was mission accomplished, because we got the call, we chartered a helicopter … and on Friday around noon we discovered him," Parker said.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/saskatchewan/story/2010/05/31/sk-power-pole-survival-1005.html -via Fark
If he had planned ahead, he wouldn't have had to resort to such a risk. It's not exactly safe chopping down poles.
But I don't blame the man for being creative in his SOS. I've heard Les Stroud say he would set a forest on fire if it would get him rescued and home to his family, but that is NOT something he recommends as a starting point.
As for the cost, if he had brought proper signal gear (which he definitely should have) the rescue would have cost nearly the same amount of money anyway.
In the end, a couple hundred people without power is a small price to pay for the life of one person, and I don't care what anyone says. Those in need have resources in town to cover those needs - including those in the hospitals.