Crews Searching Almost a Week for Man Who Fell in New York River
Crews have been searching for almost a week for a man who fell into a river in New York.
A 911 call came in of a 60-year-old man who had fallen into the Ausable River near the Flume Trail System on Thursday, September 29. Local fire departments, EMS, and New York State Police responded and began to search the water, without any luck.
Searching for Days
State Police Dive and Aviation, K-9 units, and drone teams, as well as the Forest Ranger Swift Water Team and Wilmington and Saranac fire departments, have been working for days to access pools and eddies by boat. Rope systems have even been used to lower personnel into technical sections for underwater camera searches.
Despite all the people, boats, ropes, and underwater camera searches, the man remains missing.
The search is ongoing.
NYS DEC Rescues
In 2021, DEC Forest Rangers conducted 426 search and rescue missions, extinguished wildfires, participated in prescribed fires that served to rejuvenate hundreds of acres of land, and worked on cases that resulted in thousands of tickets or arrests.
"Over the last decade, as well as during the COVID-19 pandemic, DEC saw an increase in people visiting State lands to experience New York's abundant opportunities for outdoor recreation," said DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos. "DEC's Forest Rangers continue to be on the front lines to help visitors get outside responsibly and get home safely, as well as to protect our state's irreplaceable natural resources. Rangers' knowledge of first aid, land navigation, and technical rescue techniques are critical to the success of their missions, which for more than a century have taken them from remote wilderness areas with rugged mountain peaks, to white water rivers, and throughout our vast forests statewide."