By Renee Worthing
Register Reporter
   Sixteen fire and rescue personnel from Shapleigh, Acton and Ross Corner, as well as three Maine Game Wardens spent three hours getting a snowmobiler out of the woods near Norton Ridge Road in Shapleigh Jan. 6 after the man’s snowmobile rolled over on him, breaking his leg.
   Shapleigh Fire Chief Duane Romano said when the call originally came in, it was reported that the injured snowmobiler was about 100 yards into the woods.
   “He was more like two miles in,” Romano said. “It was a 35-minute walk.”
   He said game wardens arrived at the scene before the Shapleigh Fire Department.
   “The wardens took our paramedic out there on a sled first,” Romano said.
   Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Acting Director of Public Information Deb Turcotte said the rescue effort was “quite an undertaking.”
   Maine Game Warden Alan Curtis said the man’s snowmobile had been stuck on a rough trail the day before yesterday.  
   The following day, the man went out with friends to retrieve the machine.
   “They got it out and as he was riding it out, mile or so into woods on a trail he broke himself, the snowmobile flipped over in a rut and broke his leg or hip,” Curtis said.  
  Curtis said he responded to the scene along with Warden John Lonergan as well as Shapleigh Fire and Rescue.
   Curtis said because of the rough terrain and the man’s injury, it was “too bumpy” to drag him out on a sled.
   “The carried him out on a body board,” Curtis said.
   He said the team of rescuers took turns carrying the injured man.  
  “Everyone did a really good job,” Curtis said.  “They were sinking down in the snow. In some places, it was two feet deep.”
   Curtis said people need to use “common sense” on snowmobiles.
  “Stay away from drugs and alcohol,” he said. “Stay on groomed trails. You can sink your sled in deep snow.”
   He said snowmobilers also need to be especially careful on lakes.
 “Each lake has its own characteristic,” he said.
   Curtis said different depths and currents can affect how a lake freezes.
   “Dark, solid ice should be five to six inches thick,” Curtis said.
   He said when the weather warms temprorarily and freezes again, the ice turns to slush and then refreezes.
   “When that happens, you want the ice thicker,” Curtis said.
   He also said snow acts as an insulator.
   “Snow on top of ice acts like a blanket,” he said. “It can hamper the way the ice freezes again.”
   He said the wardens received a call about a four-wheeler that went through the ice on Lake Arrowhead in Waterboro Jan. 6.
   To contact Renee Worthing, call 282-4337 ext. 240 or email news@intheregister.com.