The Lowell Sun
Saturday, January 19, 2008

Cell phone 'saved their lives' in Bedford swamp
by Jack Minch

BEDFORD -- A cell phone and a swamp doesn't sound like a match made in heaven, but police say the former played a key role in helping them rescue four pre-teens from the cold and dark in Bedford last night.

Police said the boys were in a life-threatening situation when they got lost looking for a waterfall in the White Cedar Swamp Conservation Area between routes 225 and 62 yesterday afternoon, police said.

Rescue workers found them in swampy lands using computer software that pinpointed their position using the signal from a cell phone one of the boys had with him.

They didn't show signs of any serious injuries, but three of the boys were sent to Emerson Hospital in Concord as a precautionary measure after rescue workers found them muddy and wet, the police and fire departments said.

The boys had the day off from school, so they walked into the wetlands from the Avalon at Bedford Center housing community off Route 62, also called Concord Road about 1 p.m. and found what they called a waterfall, said Officer Jeffrey French.

But then they got disoriented in the tall reeds and couldn't find their way out, police said.

An 11-year-old with a cell phone called the Police Department's business line about 4 p.m., but dispatcher Jeff Vinciulla asked for the boy's telephone number as a precaution, then told him to call back on 911 so they could use the locating software, said Lt. Jim Graham.

Police estimated the boys were 50 to 75 yards off the roadway and said they could hear traffic but the reeds hid their way out.

"If they didn't have a cell phone they would still be out there ... It saved their lives," French said.

Emergency workers started the search at the town dump off Route 225.

When police officers, firefighters and EMTs from Armstrong Ambulance arrived the two groups were able to call back and forth to each other. One boy broke off a reed and waved it high as a signal to the rescuers who trudged through snow that was waist deep in spots to reach the lost boys.

The boys were dressed wearing sweatshirts and one of them had lost a sneaker in the mud and muck, Graham said.

"We had to carry one out," said fire Lt. Paul Joy. "His feet were wet and cold."

The last ambulance left for the hospital at 4:52 p.m.

"I think they felt relieved," Joy said of the boys.