ANDOVER – An 18-year-old hiker who suffered dehydration and apparent heat exhaustion is spending Saturday night on Surplus Mountain with an equally tuckered-out rescue crew that spent more than four hours trying to reach him, Andover fire Capt. Duayne Jodrey said early Saturday evening.
Another crew was being rounded up more than seven hours after the search-and-rescue operation began, to go up early this morning and help carry the young man off the mountain.
The Maine Warden Service did not return calls by deadline to identify the injured hiker.
The drama began shortly after noon when a cell-phone caller alerted authorities to a hiker having a medical emergency. Initially, Bethel and Newry firefighters and Grafton Notch State Park rangers responded, believing the hiker was somewhere in the Baldpate Mountain area.
But at 12:40 p.m. Andover Rescue was sent to the head of Frye Brook Trail, which leaves East B Hill Road about five miles west of Andover, Jodrey said. About 20 rescuers, including Med-Care Ambulance medics, headed in on the trail, but quickly ran into problems with the heat.
“We had to keep shuttling water back and forth to them, and they had to rest,” Jodrey said.
“They reached him at Frye Notch lean-to, but they’re too tired to try and carry him out, so they’re going to spend the night up there and try to rehydrate him,” he added.
A LifeFlight helicopter was also called to help carry rescuers to the top of nearby Baldpate Mountain, but had to return to Lewiston due to the threat of approaching thunderstorms, he said.
Another rescue crew is to be assembled at 5 a.m. today at the Andover fire station to continue the operation. Jodrey said a four- to five-hour carryout is expected.
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