Ellsworth Police & Fire Department
Joint Press Release
Graham Lake Incident December 15, 2024
Ellsworth, ME – On December 15, 2024, at approximately 11:50 a.m., the Ellsworth Fire Department responded to Kids Peace for a fire alarm activation. The alarm was determined to be false.
At 12:30 p.m., Kids Peace called the Ellsworth Police Department reporting they had 4 juveniles, all 12 years old, that had absconded from the facility during the fire alarm. Additional information indicated the kids were not dressed for the weather.
Officers responded to the area and began searching, utilizing the police department’s K9, Taggert, and a department drone. Additional officers worked with Kids Peace staff and searched the roadways and residences nearby. Additional off duty resources were called in, along with the Ellsworth Fire Department and the Maine Warden Service.
As the search continued further out North St. an Officer spotted one of the missing juveniles out on the ice of Graham Lake. The Officer crossed the ice and marsh to get to the juvenile and learned one of the other juveniles had gone through the ice further out near an island. A third juvenile was near the island on land and the last juvenile was still unaccounted for.
Once rescuers got out on the lake the unaccounted juvenile was located by a Game Warden near one of the islands.
Two of the juveniles were brought to land and treated by EMS on scene.
The Maine Warden Service plane responded and circled the area. They located one juvenile that had gone through the ice, approximately ¾ of a mile from land.
Rescuers from the Ellsworth Fire, Ellsworth Police and the Maine Warden Service teamed together and brought two canoes from land out through the marsh and over the ice to the island. Rescuers dragged the canoes through the marsh to the lake, breaking through the ice and fighting through the mud along the way. Four members of the Fire Department went onto the ice in the canoes, one to the island where one juvenile was and one to the location of the juvenile who had fallen into the water. They were able to successfully rescue both juveniles and treated them for hypothermia.
Once back to the marsh area, rescuers dragged the canoes with the juveniles to land where EMS was waiting. Three juveniles were transported to Maine Coast Memorial Hospital for treatment.
The success of rescue operations such as this hinge almost exclusively on responding agencies working together with the help of local residents. This incident was no exception. The teamwork between the Ellsworth Fire Department, Ellsworth Police Department, Ellsworth Public Safety Dispatch, Mariaville Fire Department, Northern Light EMS, and the Maine Warden Service was key in the successful outcome of this operation.
