Hundreds search for missing autistic teen

MILLIS -- Several hundred rescue workers, including about 130 civilian volunteers, took turns yesterday searching for an autistic 15-year-old from Millis who was reported missing from his home Friday.

Rescue crews planned to suspend their search for Andrew Grant at nightfall yesterday. Police dogs were to be used last night to comb the area near Grant's home.

Grant disappeared Thursday afternoon from his grandparents' home, where he lives, and was reported missing the next morning. There were several reports of sightings of Grant, but as of yesterday no leads had proven fruitful, according to authorities.

Grant was a special-needs student at Millis Middle School before transferring in June to the BICO Collaborative school for special-needs students in North Attleborough.

Volunteers who gathered yesterday at the Norfolk Arena, an ice rink in Norfolk, were taken in school buses to different areas of the woods to search for Grant. They were given maps, a physical description of the teenager, and safety tips for surviving high temperatures and humidity. Each volunteer group was accompanied by at least one rescue worker, authorities said.

Public safety officials tried to keep volunteers from searching more than an hour at a time in the heat.

''These people aren't trained in this," said Tracy Hill, a Millis emergency worker who was stationed at the ice rink in case volunteers suffered heat-related health problems. ''Our main concern is that people don't get hurt."

Two volunteers were treated by emergency medical workers during the day, both for bee stings.

Local businesses and residents donated food throughout the weekend to volunteers. Mist tents also were set up so that rescuers could cool off after returning from their search.

Heather and Daniel Stouch, two volunteers from Holbrook, arrived at the ice rink at 8 a.m. yesterday and participated in several search trips. The two stayed on one trip, with the Central Massachusetts Search and Rescue Team, for about 90 minutes.

''Some parts of it are very rough with lots of briars," Daniel Stouch said of the area the couple searched.