UPDATE: Responders work as team in northern Franklin County rescue

LETTER E TOWNSHIP — A Rumford man was injured Wednesday when he swerved his van to miss a deer on Route 4 and landed in a gorge at Small Falls, according to Franklin County Cpl. Matthew Brann’s report.

It took rescuers three hours to free Frank Formisano, 58, from the Lincare company van, Rangeley Fire Chief Tim Pellerin said.

The vehicle struck a guardrail, went airborne and landed 50 feet down in the Sandy River, according to officials. Firefighters and search and rescue crews used ropes and rappelling gear to reach Formisano, Brann reported.

“Great job, victim survived, great teamwork to save a life,” Pellerin wrote in a Facebook post. “Great job everyone on one of the most difficult technical rescues I have ever seen and worked.” He thanked participating agencies, including dispatchers, search and rescue crews, medical crews, police and firefighters.

Farmington Police Chief Jack Peck and Jay Chief Richard Caton IV were returning from a meeting in Rangeley when they came across the accident, which was reported at 5:31 p.m. They said a van was in the river with someone trapped inside and lines were down, Brann said.

“When Deputy (Andrew) Morgan and I arrived on scene, I was advised there was a man in the vehicle still with unknown extent of injuries,” Brann reported.

The back of the van was in the river and the front end hung up on the ledges.

“The scene was quite complex due to getting the right resources there and the lack of access to the patient because of where the vehicle ended up,” Brann said.

Formisano told rescue crews that the last thing he remembered was hitting the guardrail after swerving to avoid a deer. There were no braking marks on the road, Brann said.

A NorthStar ambulance crew took Formisano to Franklin Memorial Hospital in Farmington. He was treated and released, a hospital spokeswoman said Thursday.

dperry@sunmediagroup.net

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