An adult male hiker died last week after reportedly going into cardiac arrest while in the Upper Paugussett State Forest.

Multiple first responders answered the call for help late Wednesday afternoon, March 23. Brookfield Police were first to respond to the state forest, after a cell phone call from someone with the victim first reached the dispatch center in that town, according to Newtown Hook & Ladder Fire Chief Chris Ward.

The call was initially thought to come from the Lower Paugussett State Forest, causing responders from Sandy Hook and Botsford volunteer fire companies, along with Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps and a paramedic, and Newtown police to begin heading to a trail access area off Great Quarter Road in southern Newtown.

When it was determined that the call was in fact coming from the Upper Paugussett trail, Hawleyville and Hook & Ladder fire companies were added to the call.

The Paugussett State Forest has two separate sections along the Housatonic River. The Lower Paugussett is 1,200 acres, with at least four trails. Its entrance is located at the end of Great Quarter Road in eastern Newtown. The Upper Paugussett is 880 acres in northern Newtown, with at least three marked trails and two access points at least two miles apart.

“We were initially unaware of his location other than ‘a yellow trail a mile and a half in,’” said Ward, who served as the incident commander. “The call went through Brookfield 911 originally, and they said they were on the Paugussett Trail, but it was misconstrued that they were in the lower forest. Then it was determined that it was Upper Paugussett.”

Quads from Sandy Hook Fire & Rescue and Brookfield Fire went into the Upper Forest, one from the Echo Valley Road access point and the other from Hanover Road, according to the fire chief.

“The state map at both of those locations had just a single trail in there, so we just drove in there — myself, a PD officer, and two Newtown EMS members,” said Ward. “We got as far as we could, to the yellow trail, and then walked.”

Radio communications further challenged the rescue effort.

“We were in a little valley, and the radios were bad yesterday to begin with,” Ward said. “They were even worse because we were in a dead spot.”

It took at least 20 minutes from the time of the initial dispatch for Newtown first responders to locate the patient. Newtown’s first responders had been informed that CPR was being done when the initial call was made to 911.

“When we found him, a Brookfield PD officer was still doing CPR, with a bystander also there,” Ward said.

The patient was shocked with a defibrillator, according to Ward, before first responders moved him out toward the Echo Valley Road access area.

The hiker was pronounced deceased at the scene, according to Ward. Additional details about the patient were unavailable.

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Managing Editor Shannon Hicks can be reached at shannon@thebee.com.