Maine Game Wardens, The Maine Forest Service, the Carrabassett Valley Fire Department and the Eustis Fire Department teamed up to rescue a 71-year-old Maine man who collapsed while hiking yesterday afternoon.
Gerard Jalbert, age 71, of Falmouth Maine was hiking with a friend and returning back from hiking to the top of Redington Mountain when he collapsed on the trail at approximately 12:30 yesterday afternoon.
The friend was able to call 911, and emergency personnel were able to get an exact location of the victim through the cell phone. Two teams consisting of multiple game wardens, Eustis Fire Department and Carrabassett Valley Frie Departments assembled quickly and began hiking in. One team hiked up the Appalachian trail up Crocker Mountain to access the Redington Trail, while the other team travelled by ATV on the Caribou Pond Road to an old snowmobile trail to an intersection with the Redington trail.
Both teams reached Jalbert at approximately 3:15 p.m. A decision was made then to contact the Maine Forest Service, who quickly arrived by helicopter, and was able to hoist him out of the woods, and transfer him to a waiting LifeFlight helicopter, who transferred him to Maine Medical Center in Portland. Jalbert remains at Maine Medical in stable condition.
“With the need to get Mr. Jalbert to the hospital quickly, state agencies and local emergency personnel were able to work together to rescue a man in a very remote area among some of Maine’s highest mountains,” said Sergeant Scott Thrasher.
