BRUNSWICK

A pair of unidentified swimmers were plucked from the Androscoggin River Friday afternoon by firefighters just as they were about to be swept away by the current.

The rescue was conducted with the help of the Topsham Fire Department.

Brunswick Fire Captain Matt Barnes said his department received a call at 4:48 p.m. for a man and woman stranded on the rocks below the Swinging Bridge.

While firefighters were en route, bystanders reported that a woman, hanging onto the rock, was yelling that she couldn’t hang on any longer and was about to be swept away.

According to Barnes, using the department’s boat, firefighters Joel Bruce and Luke Vashon rescued the 26-year-old woman, who by then was so exhausted she let go of the rock and was in the water. Firefighters were able to throw her a rope and get her out of the current.

Barnes said she was in one of the worse places she could be in the river, about 200 or 300 yards from the Black Bridge.

Brunswick firefighters then retrieved the woman’s 30-year-old companion.

Barnes said both patients were evaluated by EMS back on land. Neither wanted to go to the hospital and walked away.

The two had been on the beach area on the Topsham side of the river when the woman had decided to swim across, according to Barnes. She was soon sucked into the current, however, and the man went in after her in order to rescue her and found himself in the same predicament. Neither realized how swift the current was, or how close they came to drowning.

“We don’t get there above the dam very often and when we do, it’s usually a very serious rescue because of the current and also because there are so many rocks. It is very, very hard to navigate the boat,” Barnes said. “I can’t tell you enough, the guys on that call — the professionalism they displayed — was outstanding.”

The biggest threat to firefighters was the possibility of striking a rock and disabling the boat engine.

The owner of the nearby hydroelectric dam, Brookfield Renewable Power, approached the Topsham Board of Selectmen two years ago about creating a perimeter with signs and fencing around a half-mile stretch of the river. There had been recent public safety incidents in that stretch of river, including a woman who jumped from the Swinging Bridge two weeks before a Sept. 4, 2014 selectmen meeting to discuss safety measures.

The company was looking for selectmen’s support to place signs in areas of unauthorized swimming and possible fencing in dangerous areas.

Topsham Town Manager Rich Roedner said the company has posted signs since that meeting. Other efforts on this front have been quiet, until a few weeks ago when Brookfield contacted the town to again talk about safety measures for the area. That discussion has not taken place yet, Roedner said.