By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

NAPLES — Butch Auger had a gut feeling to go to Sebago Lake State Park on an extremely hot afternoon in July. That decision put him less than one minute away from the sandbar where a young man had a spinal injury.

Auger is a Naples Marine Safety deputy harbor master.

However, he was off duty when he responded to the 9-1-1 call on July 23. Immediately, Auger talked somebody with a boat into taking him out to the scene, gathered information from two off-duty nurses helping out, established communications with dispatch, and sat calmly with the injured individual while waiting for a rescue boat to arrive.

Eventually, the victim took a LifeFlight to Portland. 

There were some tense moments on the sandbar. The victim was a young man who had jumped off his boat’s bow into shallow water, which resulted in a neck injury.  

“I was two feet from his face. He kept saying he wasn’t in pain. I thought that was because he was paralyzed. He had no feeling in his legs. He broke his neck was what I thought,” Auger said.

Afterwards, Deputy Auger checked in on the young man, seeing how he was recovering.

“I knew the kid was going to be in rough shape. A week or so later, I called him at Maine Med. I asked him if it was okay if I had lunch with him. He said that I’d have to drive to Boson to do that. The next day, he was being flown out to Boston. He went to New England Rehabilitation Hospital,” he said.

Just this week, Auger reached out to the young man again to discover some really good news.

“He was walking by Thanksgiving,” he said.

The man had a bruised cervical disk, rather than a broken neck, he said.

Last week, Auger received the Marine Unit Citation Award for his heroic actions.

Naples Harbor Master Shawn Hebert presented the award during the Naples Board of Selectmen meeting in mid-March.

“On Saturday, July 23, 2022, during the peak summer recreational boating season and activities, Deputy Harbor Master Butch Auger, while off duty, was alerted to an emergency call reported to be in the area between Sebago Lake State Park and the sandbar,” Hebert said.

This incident required the response of more than 10 public safety agencies around the Sebago Lake area, he said.

“During the initial response, there were conflicting reports as to the patient’s status and exact location. Deputy Auger’s local knowledge of the lake and landmarks allowed his response to put him in the closest-most point to the patient when he arrived at the scene in that area,” Hebert said. “Deputy Auger assumed initial operational command of the incident, and with lack of communication ability with Cumberland County Regional Communications Center and responding units, Deputy Auger was able to commandeer a vessel to make patient contact, to receive reports from two off-duty nurses who were on scene helping to render aid to victim. Deputy auger was able to coordinate additional response and medical support.” 

“Without his actions, the potential outcome of the incident could have taken a completely different path,” he said. 

“Deputy Auger followed up with his efforts by contacting the patient several days later to offer support and encouragement during his recovery,” he said. 

“His selfless act during off-duty hours and on his own initiative brings great credit upon himself and the Marine unit,” Hebert said.

Auger shared the details of the experience, which happened about nine months ago.

“I had just got done working a 4-hour shift. I was at Kent’s Landing. There were a couple guys that got into a tussle about launching their boat off the dock. It was one of the hottest days of the summer. I said to myself, ‘If it’s like this here, I wonder what it’s like at Sebago Lake State Park?’ That is not even in my jurisdiction. I wanted to go and see what it was like. So I got in my truck and drove there,” Auger said. “I was sitting there at Sebago Lake boat launch, at the day use area when the call came over the radio. It literally happened at the mouth of the (Songo) River.”

Auger needed to evaluate the victim’s injuries, but that required a boat, he said. He came across somebody waiting on the shore next to his boat. Auger introduced himself as being from marine safety and asked to be driven out to the sandbar. The person said he couldn’t do it because he had been drinking alcohol. The stranger held up a red solo cup to prove it. Auger insisted. So, they got in the boat and headed to the sandbar.

At that point, Auger met the 26-year old male victim and a couple of women who were RNs.

“He dove headfirst off his boat into a foot of water. They stabilized him, put towels around his neck to keep him still,” he said. “Out at the sandbar, I am communicating with Cumberland County Regional through Bridgton Police Department. I was able to establish communication. That was crucial. I could ask them to get the stuff out there that was needed because of [the recommendations from] the two off-duty nurses.”

Time was ticking away. A landing zone was being set up off Route 302 in Casco while the Town of Raymond’s rescue boat was heading to the sandbar.

“Raymond Rescue Boat 1 took him from the outer sandbar to that state park ramp. From the state park ramp, an ambulance took him to Watkins Flats, where an LZ had been established and he was LifeFlighted to Maine Medical Center,” he said. 

Auger joined marine safety in 1989.

“My family had property on the lake plus I was one of the commercial captains on the waterways. I’ve driven the River Queen, the pirate ship. I’ve worked out of Point Sebago, driving their boats for a few years,” he said. “I just enjoy being on the water.”

This is the second citation award given to a Naples employee.