POLAND — Poland Fire Rescue took delivery late last week of a new rescue vehicle capable of year-round water, land and ice rescue

According to Chief Mark Bosse, the seed for the purchase was planted during an April 2013 ice rescue on Thompson Lake.

An ice fisherman, determined to make the best of the last day on the ice, hiked about 1,500 feet out onto the questionable ice. On the return trip to his truck on the shore, he fell into a pressure ridge.

The caretaker for Camp Fernwood, on his sled to take a spin around the grounds that evening, found the fisherman’s truck. Shouting out toward the ice, he received a weak response from somewhere out on the lake.

What ensued was a protracted water and ice rescue involving exhausted firefighters and heavy gear on crumbling ice on a pitch black night.

Bosse said ropes were hauled out onto the faltering surface. Communications continually failed as firefighters broke through the ice and water, killing radios as they tried to pull themselves back up to safety.

In an operation that involved the Poland Fire Rescue, the Maine Warden Service and Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Department, Bosse described his crew as “exhausted, beat up and tired.”

After retrieving the wedged fisherman, Bosse’s crew began the long haul back to shore until a warden’s air boat met them.

Bosse said he feared losing four of his crew that night. “It was a really unsettling feeling in the belly,” he said.

The overwhelming message that night was “We need to find a better way to do this stuff,” he said.

There have been more cold water rescues since that night and still no answer.

Bosse said it was at a trade show in Indianapolis he found a possible answer. WISE Technology, based close to home in Guilford, N.H., was showing a prototype of the “AIR Responder.” It was like a snowmobile nested in a boat hull, designed for all-season rescues.

“It’s a hull that floats on open water, ice, land and if needs be,” Bosse said.

According to Bosse, the vehicle would be available for rapid deployment from early and late ice, when anglers are equally antsy, into the summer months.

Bosse said WISE Technology brought their prototype over the course of all seasons, proving its versatility, and in return, getting notes from the pros who would be using it.

Together, they worked in a win-win collaboration — beefing up the engine, working on hull design, hydraulic trip controls and testing the trailer, which can rotate a full 360 degrees for easy launching.

Seeing the vehicle in use, Bosse said, “It was like a home run.”

Bosse said he knew this was the equipment his department needed just as he knew how long a budget request would take. Just the same, he didn’t want the taxpayers of Poland to take the hit for new, specialized equipment.

Enter the Poland Fire Rescue Benevolent Association.

With the association on board to foot the bill and the town selectmen on board, Bosse said the department took delivery of the first AIR Responder ever sold by WISE Technology.

Although it’s parked in Poland, Bosse said, the association is still making payments on the $60,000 vehicle.

Bosse said, “The association is doing a bang-up job” with its continued fundraising. He said recent media coverage has brought in additional donations toward the new life-saving apparatus.

“The public has been very supportive,” Bosse said.

“I’m hoping it just stays in the (firehouse) bay,” Bosse said, knowing better. “Poland is a beautiful area,” he said with its lakes, streams and land. However, “sometimes Mother Nature takes over.”

Bosse said donations of any amount will be gratefully accepted by the Poland Fire Rescue Benevolent Association to help pay off the Air Responder.

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