DIXFIELD — A father and son remained hospitalized Wednesday afternoon in Lewiston with serious injuries from an overnight snowmobile crash off Common Road, officials said.
Maine Warden Service spokesman Cpl. John MacDonald said Wednesday by email that John Gray, 54, of Alna in Lincoln County and his son, Adam Gray, 32, of Lebanon were involved in a two-snowmobile crash with each other just after midnight. They were riding on a club trail.
John Gray was taken by LifeFlight medical helicopter to Central Maine Medical Center while Adam Gray was taken by Med-Care Ambulance to Rumford Hospital for initial treatment, MacDonald said. Med-Care took him to CMMC.
A CMMC spokeswoman said Wednesday afternoon that John Gray’s condition was critical, while his son’s condition was fair.
MacDonald said the two were riding in a group of four when the crash happened. The incident remains under investigation by the Maine Warden Service.
Dixfield fire Chief Scott Dennett said Wednesday in Rumford that while he wasn’t at the rescue scene, he learned about it from firefighters.
“It’s my understanding that one sled hit an individual and that may have been due to a throttle malfunction, and he sped past a rider and hit the one traveling ahead,” Dennett said.
The 911 call for help alerted Dixfield firefighters, Med-Care, Dixfield police and the warden service. Dennett said that, initially, responders were told there were three possible patients, so East Dixfield and Peru firefighters were called for extra manpower.
Additionally, Rumford rescue and firefighters were called to bring the Oxford County Sheriff’s Department snowmobiles they store for just such emergencies, Dennett said.
When an emergency medical service responder arrived on scene and established command, responders were told they only had one patient that needed attention, he said. At first, Adam Gray declined treatment, Dennett said.
Dixfield firefighters brought their rescue sled, and one of the riders in the Gray party brought it to the crash site while a Rumford firefighter transported other responders to the site.
Dennett said the accident was about a mile into the woods off a private driveway off Chapel Road, which is off Common Road and Route 2.
He said, as he understood it, the sledders had left their trucks in Stratton and were headed back there when the collision happened.
Dennett said below-zero temperatures were a problem for the riders and rescuers. He said it was 13 below zero in Dixfield where he lives.
Initially, firefighters tried to have LifeFlight pick up John Gray along Common Road in the Baptist Church parking lot, but Dennett said the helicopter pilot was uncomfortable trying to land or take off from the tight spot at night.
Therefore, Med-Care took John Gray to the Maine Department of Transportation headquarters beside Route 2 in Dixfield by Canton Point Road for LifeFlight.
tkarkos@sunjournal.com
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