Bangor Daily News Article

BOWDOIN COLLEGE GRANT EAST — A 60-year-old Indiana man, who suffered a seizure and had stopped breathing while hiking the Appalachian Trail, was airlifted Tuesday in a daring rescue.

Christopher H. Heap of Terre Haute, Ind., suffered a seizure at about 9 p.m. Monday at the Logan Brook lean-to on the Appalachian Trail and was flown to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor.

As of Tuesday evening, Heap’s condition was serious, according to a hospital nursing supervisor.

Two trail hikers who had stopped to rest at the same lean-to, which is located below the summit of Whitecap Mountain, south of First Roach Pond, notified authorities of Heap’s condition, according to Sgt. Pat Dorian of the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.

Instead of seeking help in the Kokadjo area, which was closer, the pair, who were unfamiliar with the territory, hiked back over Whitecap Mountain, through Gulf Hagas to Katahdin Iron Works, where they contacted the Piscataquis County Sheriff’s Department, Dorian said.

The hikers left the lean-to at 9 p.m. and reached the iron works in Brownville at about 3 a.m., he said.

Had the hikers been familiar

See Rescue, Page B5

with the region, they would have known that the nearest telephone was at West Branch Pond Camps, about three miles from the lean-to.

Responding to the warden service’s request for help in the rescue was Lt. Col. Dave Smith of the Maine Army National Guard and three crew members from Bangor. Smith piloted a Blackhawk helicopter to the scene, which airlifted the ill man to the Bangor hospital.

The rescue was not an easy one for those involved.

‘‘It was fairly dangerous,’’ Smith admitted Tuesday.

Heap was in a gorge surrounded by trees and cliffs on three sides, the helicopter pilot said. A wind would have made the rescue all the more dangerous, he said.

A smoke bomb discharged by Warden Roger Guay helped pinpoint the location on the ground.

Dorian said the rescuers on the ground traveled over a logging road and then walked more than a mile over steep terrain to reach Heap at about 5:45 a.m. Tuesday.

The ground crew included six wardens, four members of the Charles A. Dean Memorial Hospital (Greenville) Wilderness Team, seven members of the Mayo Regional Hospital (Dover-Foxcroft) Wilderness EMT Team, and eight members of Outward Bound, who were in the Moosehead Lake region for a training session.

Heap’s position was relayed to a warden pilot flying an airplane and then to the military helicopter.

Smith said a Stokes litter, or basket, was lowered to the ground, and Heap was placed inside and lifted up into the helicopter. Also lifted into the helicopter was Dave Bouchard of Greenville, a paramedic who had administered first aid to the stricken man.

Rescues such as this one are costly for the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, although an estimate could not be provided for this week’s rescue.

Mark Latti, IF&W spokesman, said the costs include wages, overtime and equipment. He said that only in extremely limited situations can the department bill an individual, and that would involve a prank or a hoax.

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