REDINGTON TOWNSHIP — For the second time in less than two weeks, a North Carolina woman was carried off the Appalachian Trail on Tuesday after becoming ill.
A team of emergency responders rescued Andrea Pincumbe, 21, of Asheville, North Carolina, from the Poplar Ridge lean-to atop Saddleback Mountain in Redington Township on Tuesday. She became ill while hiking the Appalachian Trail in Franklin County, the Maine Warden Service said. (Maine Warden Service photo)
Andrea Pincumbe, 21, of Asheville, called the Franklin County Regional Communications Center in Farmington at about 8 a.m. from the Poplar Ridge lean-to atop Saddleback Mountain to say she was severely ill and needed medical attention, Lt. Kevin Adam of the Maine Warden Service said in a news release.
Rescuers reached her at about 11 a.m., administered aid and carried her down in a litter part of the way. She walked with assistance at times. She was brought to an ambulance at Perham Junction in Madrid Township at about 5 p.m. and taken to Franklin Memorial Hospital in Farmington for treatment, according to Adam, search and rescue coordinator for the Warden Service.
Game wardens, members of the Phillips and Rangeley fire departments, NorthStar EMS, Maine Forest Service, Franklin County Search and Rescue and several civilian through-hikers were involved in the rescue.
Appalachian Trail hiker Andrea Pincombe, 21, of Asheville, North Carolina is administered medical care on Tuesday after she became ill. A team of rescuers hiked up to the Poplar Ridge lean-to atop Saddleback Mountain in Redington Township and carried Pincombe down the majority of the way to Perham Junction in Madrid Township. (Maine Warden Service)
On July 5 in Piscataquis County, Pincumbe was carried from the Appalachian Trail east of Greenville in the 100-Mile Wilderness after becoming ill, the Warden Service release said.
On Friday, the Warden Service and others rescued a woman from London, England, who broke her ankle while hiking the day before on the West Peak of Bigelow Mountain in Wyman Township in Franklin County.
The Warden Service offered the following tips for hikers:
• Always tell a responsible person where you are going, where you will park, what route you will take and what time you will be back;
• Bring enough supplies to spend the night;
• Sign every sign-in book you pass, with the date and time;
• Do not overestimate your abilities or speed on the trail; and
• Have a good communication plan while in often poor cellphone coverage areas.
dperry@sunmediagroup.net
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