PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. — The massive manhunt for two convicted killers resumed Saturday on the morning after a worker at an upstate New York maximum-security prison was charged with smuggling in hacksaw blades, chisels, a punch and a screwdriver bit to help the men escape.

More than 800 law enforcement officers have joined the search, concentrating in a rural area in the Adirondacks near the Canadian border around the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora.

Joyce Mitchell

With the escapees still on the run eight days after cutting themselves out of prison with power tools, residents were vigilant.

Kevin Farrington stood close watch over his 2-year-old son Dylan as the toddler jumped at the chance to go outside for the first time since the prison break. A contingent of about 40 armed officers scanning the field across the highway set the family at ease for the first time all week in an area where nobody is accustomed to locking their doors, day or night.

“Obviously, you know the prison is there, but there’s never been an incident so you feel secure,” said Farrington, a city engineer in nearby Plattsburgh who moved to the banks of the Saranac River 13 years ago.

“When something like this happens, you think about a couple of guys who are pretty bad actors capable of anything,” Farrington said. “You know they’re desperate and probably not going to want to be taken alive. They’ll probably go to any lengths.”

Farrington said he keeps a loaded gun inside his home, just in case.

Searchers had clear skies as the resumed their search Saturday, after a stormy night that saw the prison worker accused of helping the men escape appear before a judge in handcuffs.

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