7448-R1_MSA_Feb2021_MaineSnowmobiler

Rescue Boggans - The Ride That Could Save Your Life By Mark Chinnock

T he date was December of 1998 and the sport of snowmobiling had already evolved into something larger than anyone could ever imagine and with it brought some new challenges to the sport. One of these challenges with the growing number of riders was unfor- tunately the rate of snowmobile related accidents. The Maine snowmobile indus- try and more directly the MSA along with state agencies realized this and partnered up with Equinox, a company out of Win- nipeg Canada who manufactured these boggans and were shipped out of Ontario. One of the biggest obstacles with getting these Rescue Boggans to the states was the shipping costs and that is when the MSA stepped in and negotiated to pur- chase a large number of them, seeing an interest from several snowmobile clubs and an urgent need to have something like this in place. From my understanding, the Northern Timber Cruisers in Millinocket were the first club to receive one of these boggans. The total cost of was $840.00 and the Tim-

ber Cruisers along with the Millinocket Fire Dept. appropriated funds to purchase the boggan and along with a 50/50 MSA grant the first Equinox rescue boggan was put into service. These first rescue bog- gans were 8 feet long and 3 feet wide, they were able to carry an attendant along with the patient and towed by a snowmobile or small groomer. The boggans are still sold and used today and come in different variations, one such variation is a high flotation wheel kit so as to be used in the warmer months and pulled by an ATV or side by side. Today there are well over 100 boggans in service throughout Maine, some clubs and emergency personnel have never had to use them (which is ultimately what we hope for) while others have had to put them in use for many lifesaving situations. One thing that we as the MSA Trails Com- mittee as well as the MSA Safety Chair in conjunction with the Dept. of ACF Snow- mobile division is to try and be as prepared as possible in the event that you need to put these into action. One way to do that

is to have mini training sessions as a club with your first responders. Take a few hours and get together as a club with your Fire Department and/or Rescue personnel and exchange contact information. Go over how the Rescue Boggan operates, how is it towed, with what will it be towed, and even better meet at a specific location where you can actually have a mock res- cue and real time scenarios. This allows everyone involved to know exactly what has to happen so that everything works as planned. Training will give you the best chance to have a successful rescue, because lets all face it the time for training is not when you get the call that someone is in a bad way and hurt out on the trail. Typically, these boggans are housed at local fire stations or rescue barns, but sometimes they are kept at the local snowmobile club, in any case as a club or first responder be connected with each other which will make things a lot less stressful and run more smoothly. I was truly in awe when we started compiling a list of all the clubs around the state that

had purchased Rescue Boggans and it got me thinking that my local club the Bog Hooters in Mechanic Falls had bought one back in the day. I also realized that I had no clue what it looked like, how it hooked up or if we even had the right hitch system to tow it. Let alone how to tow it and not to make the situation worse with a pos- sible patient. After a discussion with the Fire Department we put together a contin- gency plan with contact numbers and so forth, then we had an on the snow train- ing session. That was a number of years ago, and since then the Fire Dept. has purchased a side by side, which prompted our most recent training session. Just maybe this article will prompt you as it did me to dig your Rescue Boggan out from the archives and get acquainted with it. If anyone or any club wants to find out more about purchasing a Resuce Boggan and would like more information regarding assistance or available grants, please call either the MSA office or Joe Higgins at the Dept. of ACF Snowmobile Division and we will steer you in the right direction.

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