03-15-2012, 02:22 PM
About 50 rescuers, including civilian search teams and local and state government responders, focused much of their search around East Pittston Road and Blinn Hill Road. The search includes water, air and land.
Pickup trucks belonging to the Maine Warden Service and Maine Forest Service gathered at the Pine Grove Cemetery on Blinn Hill Road to scour the woods in the area. Warden and ranger trucks, as well as vehicles belonging to citizen volunteers, were parked along logging roads and turnoffs throughout the town. Searchers using a boat checked the banks of the Eastern River.
Rescuers are carrying global positioning systems to track the areas they search. That information is fed by wardens into computers at the search command center at Pownalborough Hall adjacent to the fire station on Route 197.
Information gathered by searchers is uploaded to a computer on board a Maine Forest Service helicopter to ensure full coverage of the search area, said Ranger Lt. Jeff Currier.
Steve Lavoie, principal at Hall-Dale Middle School where Thomas is a seventh-grade honors student and cross-country runner, said he had talked to the boy's parents who are involved in the search effort.
"I've talked to them about the situation in general and how we can be of support," Lavoie said.
Pickup trucks belonging to the Maine Warden Service and Maine Forest Service gathered at the Pine Grove Cemetery on Blinn Hill Road to scour the woods in the area. Warden and ranger trucks, as well as vehicles belonging to citizen volunteers, were parked along logging roads and turnoffs throughout the town. Searchers using a boat checked the banks of the Eastern River.
Rescuers are carrying global positioning systems to track the areas they search. That information is fed by wardens into computers at the search command center at Pownalborough Hall adjacent to the fire station on Route 197.
Information gathered by searchers is uploaded to a computer on board a Maine Forest Service helicopter to ensure full coverage of the search area, said Ranger Lt. Jeff Currier.
Steve Lavoie, principal at Hall-Dale Middle School where Thomas is a seventh-grade honors student and cross-country runner, said he had talked to the boy's parents who are involved in the search effort.
"I've talked to them about the situation in general and how we can be of support," Lavoie said.