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Hikers cross over the ridge of Tumbledown Mountain’s East Peak in 2004. The West Peak, the true summit at 3,068 feet, is in the background. (Staff photo)

Who is paying for firefighters to rescue or recover lost hikers on mountains in unorganized territories in Maine?

Weld Fire Rescue Chief Corey Hutchinson says in his area the money is coming out of his department’s budget that voters approve at the annual town meeting to cover the town, and that concerns him.

The town does get reimbursed for fires in Perkins Township, adjacent to Weld, from the Franklin County unorganized territory budget paid for by the state — but that money is only for fire protection, not rescues.

The Weld department has responded six times just since June 8 to help hikers who have either been hurt or lost on Tumbledown Mountain in Township 6, north of Weld, and one on Little Jackson Mountain, which connects to Tumbledown via trails. One of those search and rescue missions turned into a recovery after the hiker died from medical issues while up there. They have had two rescues in June, three in July and one in August so far.

There was a seventh call on Thursday night to Weld firefighters, but the hiker who was reported missing contacted family members, and firefighters were relieved of having to climb Tumbledown, which is a 3,000-foot mountain.

Franklin County is home to 10 of Maine’s 14 4,000-foot-plus mountain peaks.

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Franklin County Commissioner Tom Skolfield of Weld brought Hutchinson’s concerns to commissioners on Tuesday. The unorganized territory budget that the county oversees for the state doesn’t have set funds for rescues.

“It is a serious situation for folks in Weld,” Skolfield told fellow commissioners.

The unorganized territory land area is slightly over one half the area of the entire state of Maine. Year-round residents number approximately 9,000, with many more seasonally residing in the unorganized territory.

The area consists of 429 townships (including the Baxter State Park area), plus many coastal islands that do not lie within municipal bounds, according to information on the Maine Revenue Services website.  The area also includes miles of the Appalachian Trail, which runs from Georgia to Maine’s Mount Katahdin. Half the land in Franklin County is unorganized territory.

“We average a half-dozen rescues a year, sometimes more, sometimes less,” said Hutchinson, who was not at the meeting Tuesday. There were six rescues in 2024, he said. Some of the rescues are high risk and take longer to do, he said.

Most of these rescues take an average of six hours. It costs on average $100 a firefighter for each rescue, Hutchinson said. Each call totals on average about $1,200 to $1,300 coming from his Fire and Rescue Department budget, he said.

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“We spend up to $7,000 to $8,000 on the half-dozen calls each year, Hutchinson said. His budget runs on average up to $100,000.

Rescue workers tend to an injured New Sharon woman on Tumbledown Mountain in Township 6 in Franklin County in 2020. (Courtesy Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife)

BUSY MOUNTAIN, BUSY RESCUE TEAMS

Mount Katahdin is the most popular mountain in Maine, but thousands of visitors hike Tumbledown Mountain each year. Mount Blue State Park is also in Weld.

Most of Weld’s rescue calls are on Tumbledown, however.

“Tumbledown is among the most visited peaks in Maine for hiking,” said Jim Britt, spokesman for the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry. Maximum weekend and holiday vehicle counts at the trail heads range from 40 to 140 vehicles per day on the busy days with lower weekday numbers.

Weld is not the only town dealing with rescue costs. Wilton, which has a ropes team, and Phillips firefighters are also among those called to be part of the rescues on Tumbledown and in the area, if needed. Many of the organized towns in Franklin County pay for a rescue when it is in their area, including Rangeley, Eustis and Carrabassett Valley. Other counties, such as Oxford and Somerset, have a lot of unorganized territory as well.

Maine Warden Service, Franklin Search & Rescue, Maine EMS ambulance services personnel, and Mount Blue State Park staff when needed also participate in rescues, which Hutchinson said are all great to work with.

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But to take the pressure off Weld and other towns with no rescue budgets, Hutchinson said he would like Franklin County government to come up with a rescue team to go to calls, maybe listed as rescue personnel or wilderness rescue team, and for those participating to be reimbursed. No one is forced to go on a rescue mission, he said, but instinct for firefighters and others in the business is to help people.

“Weld fire is more than willing to help,” he said. “You don’t just do it for money. We want to help. Somebody has to do it to keep people safe. (But) money is what concerns us.”

Hutchinson said he is also hoping more education can be done to help hikers understand the terrain and how to be prepared.

Phillips fire Chief Sean Allen said his costs average about the same as Weld. They have had three backcountry rescues on the Appalachian Trail and Madrid Township this year. One lasted about 10 hours, he said. Part of the rescue area includes Saddleback Horn and Saddleback Junior.

“We will go up there, but there needs to be compensation,” Allen said.

The High Peaks Alliance organization has been working with the state to cover Tumbledown Mountain three days a week, Executive Director Brent West wrote in an email.

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The Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands has had its recreation ranger going an additional day each week. The rangers make sure the trails are in good condition and talk to hikers, pointing out conditions or making sure they are prepared.

Maine Conservation Corps trail crews have also been on Tumbledown.

“All the trails get cleared and blazed and our rec rangers engage hikers,” West said.

Rescuers from several organizations including Franklin Search & Rescue, Maine Warden Service, and local fire departments carry an injured hiker to the top of Tumbledown Mountain in 2022. The hiker was taken by a Maine Forest Service helicopter to a Farmington hospital. (Courtesy of Franklin Search & Rescue)

70,000 HIKERS ANNUALLY

The state has an estimated 70,000 hikers annually, he said. It is heavily advertised by tourism groups and some people probably are not prepared for the hikes, West added.

Rescues happen all over this region, but Tumbledown gets many more users than anywhere else, West said, adding that many are inexperienced people attracted to the stunning beauty.

The Bureau of Parks and Lands also has agreements with forest rangers to help, West added.

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“We recognize the burden that search and rescue places on local rescue personnel,” state spokesman Britt wrote in an email.

Tumbledown Mountain is a Public Reserved Lands unit and not a state park, and thus is not managed day-to-day by the state’s park system. Typically, Public Reserved Lands are managed for backcountry recreation, and the public lands staff, which consists of mainly foresters, do not have search and rescue in their job description or training.

Public Reserved Lands foresters are not part of the emergency response system and usually do not even hear about emergencies on Public Reserved Lands until after an event, if at all. Public Reserved Lands span more than 640,000 acres across the state and are not staffed daily, Britt wrote.

Before this year, the Public Reserved Lands system funded about half of a Mount Blue State Park ranger salary to spend several days a week on Tumbledown. An AmeriCorps member would work with that park ranger. Coverage was probably four to five days per week under that model.

“Beginning in 2025, we adopted a similar model where a public lands recreation ranger spends (one to two days) a week on the mountain and staff from the High Peaks Alliance spend (two to three days) a week on the mountain,” Britt wrote. “We aim to cover busier days including Fridays and at least one weekend day each week. Essentially the level of effort is the same in 2025. The focus is always on educating visitors about safety and rules to protect the sensitive resources. These staff have never been trained (as) first responders and visitors have always relied on trained first responders from local communities and the Warden Service in emergency situations.”

The Public Reserved Lands is funded largely through timber revenue, which is down significantly in recent years, Britt wrote.

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“In 2025, we estimate Public Lands will spend about $25,000 just to put these staff on the mountain weekly for visitor education and general maintenance. (Bureau of Public Lands) is also in the midst of a multi-year, $500,000 trail improvement project paid largely through grants that will improve the footing on trails and reduce environmental impacts, he said.

Realizing the popularity of Tumbledown Mountain, the bureau makes little to no effort to promote visitation to Tumbledown, “rather we provide information for those who find their way to this extremely popular hike through word of mouth, social media, and outlets such as Maine Trail Finder and All Trails. If anything, promotional efforts by Bureau of Parks and Lands seek to direct visitors from the busiest sites like Tumbledown to less busy sites around the state,” Britt wrote.

“There is an important larger question about who pays for the emergency rescues of hikers, bikers, campers, hunters, etc., throughout rural Maine. While the instances of emergency response might be higher at Tumbledown than on average, it is a recurring issue throughout rural recreation areas in Maine,” he wrote.

NOTE: The Maine Conservation Corps. have been on Tumbledown. The organization’s name was incorrectly reported by a reporter in this story.

Donna M. Perry is a general assignment reporter who has lived in Livermore Falls for 30 years and has worked for the Sun Journal for 20 years. Before that she was a correspondent for the Livermore Falls...

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