Personnel from three different towns responded to a wilderness rescue after a hiker injured their ankle in the Wolfe’s Neck Center trail system in Freeport on July 22.
According to a dispatch record, Freeport fire and rescue responded to the trail system around 3 p.m. The department requested additional assistance from Yarmouth and Brunswick fire departments shortly after arriving on site.
A crew from Brunswick found the hiker and provided basic support. Not long after, Yarmouth Fire Department also hiked in to assist with a wheel that attached to a rescue basket the hiker was being carried in. Freeport personnel also hiked in to help.
Rescue personnel then found a different route accessible by an off-road vehicle, and the hiker was transported into the vehicle and driven out of the woods.
The individual refused transport to the hospital by personnel after getting out of the woods.
According to Freeport Deputy Fire Chief Paul Conley, three departments responded because some of the town’s crew was already tied up in a car accident and additional aid was needed.
While an exact location of where the incident occurred was not available, according to Conley, it was “quite a ways in” to the trail system.
The scene was cleared by 5:44 p.m. and all responders were out of the field by 6:00 p.m.
Conley estimated that Freeport Fire and Rescue responds to one or two wilderness rescues a year, whether it be at the Wolfe’s Neck Center trail system, the Wolfe’s Neck State Park or Bradbury Mountain in Pownal.
Wolfe’s Neck Center for Agriculture & the Environment, where the trail system is located, is a nonprofit based in Freeport situated on more than 600 acres of land.
The organization works to promote responsible farming and a healthier food system for both people and the environment.
Wolfe’s Neck Center did not respond to a request for comment.
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