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NATIONAL PARK SERVICE MORNING REPORT BLACKBERRY EDITION Thursday, August 24, 2006 =============================================================================================================== INCIDENTS Grand Teton NP Two Simultaneous Accidents With Nine Injuries, Fatality Rangers responding to the report of a motor vehicle accident just south of the Jackson Lake Lodge on Monday, August 21st, found that a minivan with five visitors from Italy had crossed a double yellow line and hit a VW van with a family of five from Lander, Wyoming. Of the nine people injured in the accident, two juveniles were in critical condition and required helicopter evacuations and the remaining seven had intermediate injuries and were transported by ambulance. This incident required a response by all three park ambulances, an Air Idaho medevac helicopter, an interagency contract helicopter, two park engines, and two ambulances, a fire engine and a rescue truck from nearby Jackson. The latter was needed to extricate the people in the VW van, which was not equipped with air bags. Within a minute of receiving this accident report, Teton Interagency Dispatch Center received a report of a second accident involving a motorcycle east of Moran Junction. Responding rangers, rescue personnel and Wyoming Highway Patrol officers found that a 64-year-old man from Texas had lost control of his motorcycle, traveled over 100 feet off the road and down a 25-foot embankment, and ended up on a gravel bar in the Buffalo Fork of the Snake River. He suffered major head and chest trauma and went into cardiac arrest about 40 minutes after the accident. Efforts to revive him were not successful. The ambulance and helicopter dispatched to this accident were then released and redirected to the head-on motor vehicle accident. [Patrick Hattaway, North District Ranger] Petersburg NB Assault And Attempted Kidnapping On the evening of August 14th, four girls, ages five to eight, entered the park from an adjacent elementary school, where they encountered an adult male who placed a knife to the throat of one of them and attempted to abduct all four. The three other girls screamed and fled despite their assailant's demands, thereby also providing an opportunity for the first girl to get free and escape. None of the four girls was injured. The incident was reported to the Petersburg Bureau of Police. The park's chief ranger was contacted the following day after detectives determined that the incident had taken place in the park. A joint investigation by detectives and NPS rangers and a special agent is currently underway. [Kevin B. Taylor, Acting Chief Ranger] Blue Ridge Parkway Suicide At Roanoke Valley Overlook Visitors reported finding a body at the Roanoke Valley overlook around 7 p.m. on August 19th. Rangers and county police responded and found the body of a 37-year-old man from Roanoke. He was found lying 50 yards from his vehicle with a gunshot wound to his head. Investigation revealed that a protection order had been issued against him the previous day, but that he'd evidently purchased the pistol before the order could be served. [Steve Stinnett, Assistant 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: Director's Office - Memorandum issued on wildland fire safety. The full text is included. Media - USA Today article on problems in parks and refuges on the border with Mexico. Yosemite - Details on a remembrance celebration of Stan Albright's life. * * * * * Prepared by Visitor and Resource Protection, WASO, with the cooperation and support of Delaware Water Gap NRA. --- ### --- |