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NATIONAL PARK SERVICE MORNING REPORT Thursday, September 28, 2006 =============================================================================================================== INCIDENTS Bryce Canyon NP Two Arrested Following Technical Rescue Rangers responded to a report of two people over a cliff in the main amphitheater near Sunset Point on Sunday, September 17th. As they were helping the first man to safety, they quickly determined that he was in an altered mental state. The man said that he and his friend had been using psychoactive mushrooms and had decided to “fly” off the cliff face. Having been only partially successful, they landed on the scree slope approximately 60 feet below. Rangers rappelled to the second young man, who was suffering from drug-induced schizophrenia and alternating from combative to unresponsive, rendering him unable to assist in his rescue. He was evacuated via a technical raising. Rangers found drugs stashed in the cliff face and in their vehicle. Both were arrested after being released from the hospital and remained in custody until appearing in court. Both have since entered guilty pleas to felony charges and will be sentenced in December. The park is seeking restitution for the cost of their rescue. [Brent McGinn, Chief Ranger] Timpanogos Cave NM Man Killed In Effort To Rescue Injured Child On the afternoon of Sunday, September 24th, a three-year-old girl stepped too close to the edge of the cave trail and fell down a scree slope, coming to rest on a flat area about 75 feet below the trail. The girl was with her mother, older sister and brother, and two male family friends, one from Russia and the other from the Ukraine. They'd just completed a cave tour and were heading back down the paved trail to the visitor center when the accident occurred. Both family friends went down the slope to aid the girl. According to the man from the Ukraine, the man from Russia was moving very fast. He fell, and his momentum carried him past the child and over the edge of a cliff, where he disappeared from view. The interpretive ranger who had guided the family's tour called for assistance and a second interpretive ranger responded. The park's chief ranger and county dispatch were notified, and an emergency response was mobilized. Several members of the county SAR team were soon on scene and a medevac helicopter was dispatched to the park. A spotter in the helicopter located the man's body in a drainage. When members of the rescue team reached his location, they found that he'd died of massive head and body trauma. A paramedic in the helicopter employed a hoist to extract the child, who was stabilized and flown by a second helicopter to Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City. SAR team members recovered the man's body later that evening. Doctors found that the child had suffered a severe laceration to her forehead, but was free from fractures or internal bleeding. She was released from the hospital the following day. [Kit Mullen, Superintendent] Delaware Water Gap NRA Lifeguards Save Two Drowning Swimmers Lifeguards at the park's Milford Beach saved the lives of two swimmers early this past summer. On the afternoon of Monday, June 19th, lifeguard Dana Zielazny saw a man with a known physical handicap struggling in the Delaware River after being swept beyond the bounds of the designated swimming area by the river's current. She also saw a second man attempting to help him, but struggling himself. Zielazny and lifeguard Redmond Ott immediately set out to help the two men - Zielazny with a rescue tube, Ott with a surfboard. By the time Ott reached the handicapped swimmer, he'd gone under, requiring Ott to dive to a depth of about eight feet to get a purchase on him and return him to the surface. Ott then got him to shore on the surfboard. Meanwhile, Zielazny went to the aid of the second man. She extended the tube to him, but he was too fatigued to grasp and hold onto it. She then moved around behind him and employed a carry rescue to bring him to shore. Both men fully recovered without medical treatment. [Note: This story was delayed until awards could be conferred on the two lifeguards). [Art North, River District Ranger] Little River Canyon NP Fatal Auto Accident On Sunday, September 24th, park visitors discovered a white vehicle about 150 feet down a cliff in the Wolf Creek area. Rangers and Fischer rescue volunteers rappelled down to it and found a man inside. The body was recovered around 6 p.m. The body was taken to Huntsville for an autopsy and identification. The victim was identified as J.(J.)L.C., 25, of Collinsville, Alabama. J.L.C. was last seen on September 17th by family members, and was reported missing to the Dekalb County Sheriff's Office on September 20th. his death has been ruled and accident. [Kimberly Kirk, Chief Ranger] NEWS Office of International Affairs - OIA is seeking applications for candidates for new World Heritage sites in the U.S. HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=viewnpsnewsarticle&type=Announcements&id=4804" http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=viewnpsnewsarticle&type=Announcements&id=4804 Mammoth Cave NP - The steering committee for IMPROVE, the organization overseeing the protection of visibility in Class I areas, met in the park this week. HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=viewnpsnewsarticle&type=Announcements&id=4806" http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=viewnpsnewsarticle&type=Announcements&id=4806 MEDIA Canyonlands NP - Salt Lake Tribune article on another fight over RS 2477, this one regarding an old road in the park. HYPERLINK "http://www.sltrib.com/contentlist/ci_4402769?source=email" http://www.sltrib.com/contentlist/ci_4402769?source=email PEOPLE Yosemite NP - David Thorpe, branch chief for communications, has received the Barry Hance Award. HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=viewcommunityarticle&type=PeopleNews&id=1327" http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=viewcommunityarticle&type=PeopleNews&id=1327 * * * * * Prepared by Visitor and Resource Protection, WASO, with the cooperation and support of Delaware Water Gap NRA. --- ### --- |