Danbury Firefighters' High-Tech Rescue of Tarrywile Hikers

DANBURY, CT — The Fire Department came to the rescue of two hikers lost in Tarrywile Park on Wednesday.

Firefighters received the distress call at 8:23 p.m., and rolled out their Polaris Ranger all-terrain vehicle crewed from their Rescue 1 team for the rescue operation.

"With the aid of technology, the Dispatch Center is able to place a 'pin' on the mobile mapping systems on our apparatus, and then in turn the firefighters take the iPads into the woods with them and it's simply a matter of 'connecting the dots' to locate people," firefighters explained on social media.

The firefighters were able to find the lost hikers in less than a half hour, and returned them to their car parked near Tarrywile Mansion.

The Fire Department is cautioning hikers to make sure to keep their phones charged up while in the while, as the devices now are not only are the means whereby rescuers learn of your dilemma, but also locate you. In the screenshots above, the small pin/flag at the bottom is the location of the hikers, and the Fire Department assets are shown by their numeral designations.

The ATV was donated to the firefighters last July by Enbridge, who owns the Algonquin natural gas pipeline that runs through the city.