FARMINGTON – A local toddler, who wandered off from his family's campsite Thursday night, was found safe about four hours later, asleep at the base of a tree about 200 yards away.
Police, firefighters and emergency personnel responded to the intersection of Ten Rod Road and Russell Lane at 8 p.m. after the boy's mother noticed her 19-month-old son Liam A. Davis had wandered away from a tent pitched near the Mad River.
Davis's mother, Brittany Adjutant, put him in the tent around 7 p.m., but didn't notice he was missing until she checked on him about 15 minutes later. After looking for Davis - who was wearing a grey sweatshirt and a diaper - for about 45 minutes, Adjutant borrowed a cell phone and called for help, according to police.
“When officers arrived, they learned the area to be searched is hilly, heavily wooded, with rivers and streams. It was quickly determined with darkness approaching that many people would be needed to assist in this search,” according to a police press release.
Members of Farmington Ambulance, Farmington Fire Department, N.H. State Police, N.H. Fish and Game, Strafford County Sheriff's Office, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Rochester Police K-9 team, Middleton Police, Milton Fire Department, Middleton Fire Department, New Durham Fire Department, Alton Fire Department, Barnstead Fire Department, Gilmington Fire Department, Lebanon, Maine Fire Department and about 100 volunteers responded to search for the toddler, according to police.
Search parties were broken up into five-person teams and formed lines to search nearby woods using a set pattern, police said.
A Dartmouth-Hitchcock Advanced Rescue (DHART) helicopter used night vision to help searchers from the sky until it ran low on fuel, but then a state police helicopter replaced it.
Meanwhile, rescuers used off-highway recreational vehicles and a Humvee to move teams and extend the range of the search, according to police.
At 11:39 p.m., a N.H. Fish & Game K-9 team located the toddler who was sleeping about 200 yards away from his tent at the base of a tree. As a precaution, Farmington Ambulance crews transported him to Frisbie Memorial Hospital in Rochester, according to police.
