SUN JOURNAL • August 18, 2024
Michael Altmaier's rescue highlights the increasingly important role played by Maine's search and rescue teams as more people seek the outdoors and officials deal with Silver Alerts. The Game Warden Service is statutorily tasked with organizing search and rescues when someone is lost, missing, stranded or drowned on inland waters or in the woods. Search and rescues are two separate operations — though sometimes a rescue is necessary when a person has been located after a search. When someone does go missing, often wardens will push a Silver Alert to the public, asking people to report if they have seen the missing person. So far this year, 18 Silver Alerts have been issued, mostly for older adults. In 2021, state legislation changed, expanding who a Silver Alert can be issued for, which is basically anyone over 18 now.