If It Wasn't for the Scouts, They Wouldn't Have Survived

Troop rescues 2 fisherman on remote lake
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jun 6, 2019 12:26 AM CDT
Scouts Rescue 2 Fishermen on Remote Lake
Michael Fiori is seen with a pair of tandem canoes in the wilderness of northern Maine on Monday, June 4, 2019, just hours before he and his brother Larry ended up in a fight for their lives when the canoes capsized in 50-degree water.   (AP Photo/Larry Fiori)

Two brothers whose canoes capsized on a remote lake in Maine say a crew of fast-thinking Boy Scouts from New Hampshire helped save their lives. Michael Fiori, 67, of Brunswick, Maine, said he was shivering after more than an hour in the 50-degree Fahrenheit water when the Scouts, who were camping nearby, found him and warmed him with heated stones wrapped in towels Monday evening. Larry Fiori, 70, of Kennebunk, Maine, was in the water even longer—about 3 hours—and was found clinging to a floating gas tank and his shredded life jacket, the AP reports. He was hospitalized with hypothermia. "If it wasn't for the Scouts, I don't think either one of us would have survived," Michael Fiori said Wednesday from a hospital in Presque Isle, Maine, where his brother was being treated.

The drama unfolded on Umsaskis Lake in the Allagash Wilderness Waterway, about 60 miles outside of the town of Ashland. The canoes were connected for stability when one boat blew a seam in the middle of the lake, sending the men and Larry Fiori's dog into the water. By a stroke of luck, boys and girls from Crew 345 in Kingston, New Hampshire, had set up camp on the lake. The brothers, both experienced fishermen, lost most of their gear with the canoe. The men scrambled into their life jackets and found themselves treading water in the middle of the lake at 7pm. Blowing a whistle and hollering for help, Michael Fiori swam to shore, where the Scouts found him as the sun was setting. The Scouts then alerted a ranger and used a canoe and a light to find Larry Fiori. The ranger arrived with a larger boat to retrieve him from the water.

(More Boy Scouts stories.)

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