|
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE MORNING REPORT BLACKBERRY EDITION Tuesday, August 22, 2006 =============================================================================================================== INCIDENTS Blue Ridge Parkway Rockslide Closes Section Of Parkway A 12-mile section of the Blue Ridge Parkway was closed on Friday afternoon after a rockslide fell across a short section of the scenic road just south of Maggie Valley in North Carolina. A vehicle traveling the parkway was struck by the falling rock. The driver and passenger were taken to Haywood Regional Medical Center in Waynesville, where they were treated and released. The slide site is immediately adjacent to the Cranberry Ridge overlook at milepost 452. Rangers closed the parkway at the nearest major access points - at Balsam Gap, where U.S. 23 and 74 intersect the parkway south of Waynesville (milepost 443), and at Soco Gap, where U.S. 19 intersects the parkway near Maggie Valley (milepost 455). The Federal Highway Administration, which will assist with emergency repairs, sent engineers and technicians to the park yesterday. The duration of the closure will depend largely on how much additional slope material is loose and will need to be removed. Some slides can be removed in a matter of days, others take significantly longer. [John Garrison, Chief Ranger] Yellowstone NP Assault On Rangers Just before midnight on July 31st, concession security officers contacted Lake District rangers and asked them for help in dealing with an intoxicated minor who was present at a party. Two rangers found and contacted the 18-year-old man, who was exceedingly drunk and disorderly. The man resisted arrest and became violent, striking a ranger once and attempting twice more, then getting his arm around the ranger's neck. He also attempted to remove the second ranger's sidearm from its holster. During this struggle, the rangers were surrounded by a hostile crowd, including several people who the security officers had to physically restrain to keep them from joining the struggle. The rangers were eventually able to free themselves from the man's grasp and twice stunned him with a Taser, making it possible from them to handcuff him and get him into a patrol vehicle. Meanwhile, several other members of the group continued their efforts to interfere with the arrest. On the following day, special agents filed several charges against the man, including assaulting/resisting a federal officer (18 USC 11 (a)). Rangers also identified the people who were in the crowd during the arrest. Two of them were charged with criminal interference and have court appearances pending. On August 11th, the first man entered a guilty plea to all the charges filed against him. He remains in custody pending a sentencing hearing on September 6th. [Brian Smith, Special Agent In Charge] Yosemite NP Multiple Overlapping Incidents In Mather District Over the course the evening of Sunday, August 13th, and the following Monday, staff in the park's Mather District dealt with an array of overlapping SAR, medical and law enforcement incidents: At 9 p.m. on August 13th, two climbers were reported to be unable to finish their climb on Fairview Dome and also unable to descend. Moreover, neither was prepared for low overnight temperatures. Rangers and SAR team members started a rescue operation around midnight. By 6 a.m., the mildly hypothermic but uninjured climbers had been rescued. As the above rescue was beginning, rangers received a report of a domestic altercation in the Tuolumne Meadows campground involving a 17-year-old boy who had a history of violent behavior and suicide attempts. He'd last been seen running into the woods north of the Tioga Pass Road. A search was begun throughout the Tuolumne Meadows area and a lookout for the boy was broadcast. Shortly thereafter, Mammoth Lakes PD advised the park that the boy was at their station. He was charged with disorderly conduct, then reunited with his family. Just before midnight on the 13th and while the two above incidents were in progress, rangers received a report of an overdue hiker at Young Lakes, seven trail miles from Tuolumne Meadows. The missing woman had parted company with her fellow hikers during a day trip to Mt. Conness, intending to return by herself to their campsite. She was carrying only a windbreaker with her. A hasty search was begun early the next morning as the Fairview Dome rescue was demobilizing. A helicopter, dog teams, trail blockers and ground search teams were deployed. The woman was spotted from the helicopter around 2 p.m. She was found to be in good condition and was flown out of the backcountry. Around 5:30 a.m. on the 14th, a fire was reported in the concession employee housing area. The resident had placed ashes from a woodstove in a cardboard box and left the box next to the ten. The ashes ignited the tent's canvas walls and roof. Nearby residents saw the blaze and got the employee out, then put out the fire with extinguishers. At 9 a.m., as the two searches were underway, Tuolumne rangers and a SAR team medic responded to and treated a youth who was having seizures at the Tuolumne Meadows store. As the search for the missing boy was demobilizing, rangers were notified of an injured climber on Lembert Dome. He'd taken a 100 foot sliding fall, which resulted in a severely angulated lower leg and severe pain. Rangers and SAR team members evacuated him by litter to a waiting ambulance. As rangers from other areas of the Mather District were responding for assignments to these incidents at Tuolumne Meadows, dispatch received a 911 call reporting gunshots in the Porcupine Flat campground. The rangers diverted to the campground and contacted the man. They found that he had several loaded weapons on him, including a submachine pistol and a sawed-off shotgun, and that he also had methamphetamine and marijuana in his possession. He was arrested and taken to jail. Felony weapons charges are pending. The last incident on the 14th took place at about 6:30 p.m. A man at the Tuolumne Meadows VC reported several abdominal pain. Rangers and a SAR team medic responded, treated him, and took him to a hospital. [Dave Lattimore, Mather District Ranger] Upper Delaware S&RR Drowning In Delaware River On the afternoon of August 19th, park dispatch received a report that a man appeared to be drowning in the Delaware River near the Kittatinny Canoe riverside campground in Minisink, New York. Rangers, state troopers and local rescue personnel all responded. Upon arrival, the rangers found that B.L., 37, had been snorkeling in the river when he'd called for help, then disappeared underwater. Local divers recovered his body from about ten feet of water in mid-afternoon. He was pronounced dead shortly thereafter. Rangers and state police are investigating. [Al Henry, Chief Ranger] Petersburg NB Hazmat Spill At Five Forks A hazardous materials spill occurred on White Oak Road at the Five Forks battlefield on the morning of August 21st. A solid waste disposal truck from Dinwiddie County was traveling east on the road when a 50 gallon hydraulic fuel tank failed, resulting in a spill of 40 gallons of hydraulic fluid. The operator of the truck pulled off the road into the Angles wayside parking lot, where the majority of the spill occurred. The material flowed into and was contained by a dirt ditch that separated the lot from the road. Damage was limited to the asphalt parking lot and about 25 feet of earthen ditch line adjacent to the lot. The truck was repaired at the scene and returned to the county garage for further work. A commercial hazmat team under contract to the county was on seen by late morning and began cleaning up the area. [Kevin Taylor, Acting Chief Ranger] OTHER NEWS Other news of interest from today's edition of InsideNPS, which can be found at this address if your inside the NPS ( HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/" http://inside.nps.gov/) and at this address if you're outside the NPS ( HYPERLINK "http://www.nps.gov/applications/digest/" http://www.nps.gov/applications/digest/). Note that not all articles that appear in the former make it into the latter: Point Reyes - Final non-native deer management plan and EIS released. Media - Another article on declining NPS visitation, ascribed to people spending way more time at video games and on the internet. Lassen - GS 11/12 FMO position opening. * * * * * Prepared by Visitor and Resource Protection, WASO, with the cooperation and support of Delaware Water Gap NRA. --- ### --- |