Two Emergency Water Rescues at Acadia Require Life Flight

Life Flight was called to Acadia National Park twice on Saturday for water-involved injuries.

Park officials say the first incident happened at Sand Beach, when a visitor flagged down a lifeguard to assist an 18-year-old man in the ocean. Several bystanders assisted Park Rangers, including a trauma nurse. The teen was stabilized by loading him on a backboard before being evacuated from Sand Beach up to the parking lot where a Bar Harbor ambulance was waiting. The ambulance took the patient to a waiting Life Flight helicopter and he was flown to Bangor at approximately 3:30 p.m. Witnesses told Rangers that the man had been seen diving in shallow water just before he was hurt.

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The second incident happened on the Cannon Brook Trail. A 911 caller reported that a 6-year-old boy had fallen approximately 50 feet into a water pool along the trail, just before 4:00 Friday afternoon. The boy reportedly suffered head and neck injuries. Park Rangers and Bar Harbor Fire Department paramedics responded to the accident. Maine Forest Service conducted a short haul to transfer the patient to a Life Flight helicopter in Bar Harbor at about 7:00 pm, and he was flown to a local hospital. Officials say the family had been swimming in the water pool and the child slid down a slope and continued into the water.

Overlapping with the water rescues on Friday were 911 calls, including vehicle and bicyclist conflicts and a bicycle accident involving a 13-year-old on the carriage roads. On Thursday, officials responded to several emergencies, including a 32-year-old woman who suffered a medical emergency on Gorham Mountain at approximately 1:30 pm, and another that involved a 58-year-old man with a knee injury on the South Ridge of Sargent Mountain. In that case, fog forced park staff and Mount Desert Island Search and Rescue volunteers to carry the man out.

So far this year, Acadia National Park has seen a 65% increase in rescues, over the 2019 calendar year.