ROCKPORT – Rockport firefighters and police responded to a call for help finding the path in the woods off of Route 17 this afternoon, as a young woman and her dog tried to make their way back home.

Just after 4 p.m., June 25, Knox County Regional Communications dispatcher John Gamage received a 911 call from the woman, who was unable to locate the trail on the Georges Highland network of paths that run along the backside of Ragged Mountain.

A runner, she had been running the paths when her dog, a Lab mix, bolted into the woods. She chased after the dog, and subsequently got disoriented. 

The woman talked with Powers on her cellphone, and while initially rescuers were unable to track her phone signal, eventually towers honed in on her latitude and longitude.

With that information, the firefighters, along with Rockport Police Officer Dana Smith, headed up the trail, calling to the woman.

An ambulance with North East Mobile Health Services was also called to the scene, the trail parking lot off of Route 17, because the woman reported she was asthmatic and was getting short of breath. 

When she found the dog, she was 500 feet off the trail between Mirror Lake and the path. Firefighters Levi and Greg Rollins, along with their German Shepherd, Major, eventually located her by voice contact and walked her out to the parking lot, approximately one half mile back through the woods.

While some firefighters were searching along the trails, others anchored the scene and ran the command post in the parking lot.

North East transported the woman to Pen Bay Medical Center in Rockport.

Firefighters assisting with the search included Neal Bartley, Todd Philbrook, Allen Mitchell, Hunter Schade, Billy Smith, John Sylvester and the Rollins.

“It was a well coordinated effort by all,” said Fire Chief Jason Peasley.

Editorial Director Lynda Clancy can be reached at lyndaclancy@penbaypilot.com; 207-706-6657