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4 children escape group home in Ellsworth, 1 falls through ice

Game Wardens Eric Rudolph and Matt Tenan with Ellsworth Police Sgt. Chad Wilmont and a member of the Mariaville Fire Department pulling a canoe with one of the rescued children back across the frozen marsh to safety.
Maine Dept. of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife
Game Wardens Eric Rudolph and Matt Tenan with Ellsworth Police Sgt. Chad Wilmont and a member of the Mariaville Fire Department pulling a canoe with one of the rescued children back across the frozen marsh to safety.

Four children escaped their group home in their pajamas Sunday afternoon, eventually leading to a boy being rescued from Graham Lake after he fell through the ice.

The boy, along with three others, were reported missing by KidsPeace, their group home, at 12:30pm, launching a search and rescue by the Ellsworth fire and police department and the Maine Warden Service.

The boys, all 12 years old, left the facility during a false fire alarm activation 30 minutes earlier.

The first boy was found at 3 p.m. and alerted authorities that another boy had fallen through the ice, according to Ellsworth deputy police chief, Shawn Willey.

By 4:15 p.m., the boy had been taken out of the water via canoe and everyone was off the ice.

Three of the boys were taken to Maine Coast Memorial Hospital to be treated for exposure and hypothermia and all are expected to be okay, according to the Ellsworth police department.

Journalist Madi Smith is Maine Public's Emerging Voices Journalism Fellow this year and is sponsored by support from the Abbagadassett Foundation.