GREENVILLE, Maine — A Maine couple, two children, and a dog are home safe after game wardens and trainees came to the rescue when the group became stranded during rapidly worsening weather conditions on Moosehead Lake on Tuesday.
Ruby Goodmen, 31, of Greenville and Joseph Wentworth, 32, of Orland were ice fishing on Moosehead Lake late Tuesday with two children, ages 2 and 5, and their dog, when conditions began to worsen during a winter storm, according to a news release from the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.
Goodmen reportedly decided to return home with the dog and one of the children who was already wet, and Wentworth reportedly planned to take the 2-year-old and ice fishing gear and catch up with them shortly thereafter.
However, Goodman's snowmobile broke down during the whiteout conditions, and Wentworth and the child became stranded when visibility decreased significantly, the release said.
Maine Game Wardens and Passamaquoddy Warden trainees, both of the Maine Advanced Warden School, received 911 calls from Goodman and Wentworth around 9:15 p.m., who were stranded on the west side of Moosehead Lake.
"Fortunately, about half of the Warden Class was staying at a camp on the west side of the lake, and working with the Bangor Regional Communications Center they were able to estimate the stranded couple’s locations through GPS coordinates transmitted through the 911 calls from the cell phones of the stranded couple," according to the release.
Wardens determined Goodmen was roughly 800 yards from shore, and Wentworth was two miles away from her location.
Once both parties were found, the group was brought back to camp to warm up and travel home safely in a provided vehicle by the camp owner.