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By LARRY GRARD Staff Writer 07/04/2008

WINSLOW — Two men whose canoe rolled over in the Kennebec River were rescued by Waterville and Winslow firefighters Thursday a short distance below the Lockwood Dam.

Skowhegan resident Chuck Cleaver, 87, and Fred Heald, 59, of Norridgewock, were adrift in the fast-flowing Kennebec for at least half an hour, said Dan Michaud, assistant Winslow fire chief.

The canoeists, who had been wearing life jackets, declined hospitalization.

Michaud said Lt. Scott Higgins and fellow Winslow firefighter Jeff Reny rescued the men with the help of a “Sea-doo,” a jetski-like device, about 50 yards from the Waterville shoreline. Higgins and Reny took Cleaver and Heald to the Winslow side of the river at the foot of Fort Halifax Park, more than 200 yards from the spot they fell in.

“They hung onto the boat, they had life jackets on — they did the right things and everybody’s safe,” Michaud said. “If they had gone into the river, the current would have taken them well downstream.”

Cleaver and Heald, their shirts off and draped in dry towels, seemed calm as Delta rescue workers checked their vitals.

Heald said that he and Cleaver, who wears a Pacemaker, were preparing to fish in their green canoe, not far from the old Hathaway Shirt Co. parking lot.

“The wind and the current rolled the canoe over,” Heald said. “The anchor got caught in the wind and current. We thought about swimming to shore, but we held onto the boat. We were thankful to hear the sirens.”

At first, Heald said, the water wasn’t too cold.

“But it got to you after a while,” he said.

Others fishing below the dam reported the accident at 12:33 p.m., said Waterville police Sgt. Joseph Shepherd.

Immediately, police, firefighters and ambulance workers responded on both sides of the river. Anxious moments followed as Heald and Cleaver disappeared from sight on the Waterville side.

“The canoe flipped over and they were hanging on,” Shepherd said.

David LaFountain, fire chief for both communities, appeared to direct the rescue from the Waterville boat landing deck, on lower Water Street, an estimated quarter mile below Fort Halifax.

For a moment, the situation appeared dire.

“Winslow is reporting they saw one person in the canoe and one person missing,” a dispatcher said.

Then, Jeff Brazier, Waterville fire captain, provided relief.

“Winslow’s got ’em right now,” Brazier said. “They’re at the park.”

Larry Grard — 474-9534, Ext. 343

lgrard@centralmaine.com

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