NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Monday, January 10, 2011

INCIDENTS

Grand Canyon NP

Seizure Victim Rescued In Night Helicopter Operation

Park dispatch received a satellite telephone call from a private river party with a medical emergency at Kwagunt Rapids just after 8 p.m. on the evening of January 5th. A 54-year-old member of the group who'd been missing for about 15 minutes had been found face down in the river and in respiratory distress. He was evidently the victim of a seizure. Other members of the group began rescue breathing and resuscitated him. Following a risk assessment, park personnel had an Arizona DPS Air Rescue helicopter respond to the scene with the aid of night vision goggles. The man lost consciousness while rescuers were en route, but had regained it, albeit with an altered mental status, when they arrived. He was stabilized at the scene and flown to Flagstaff Medical Center. Although helicopter evacuations occur on a regular basis at Grand Canyon, a night helicopter evacuation is a very rare event. Adam Sherman was the incident commander. [Ken Phillips, Chief, Emergency Services]

Death Valley NP

Man Commits Suicide In Mesquite Dunes

A visitor contacted ranger Andy Griggs on the afternoon of Monday, January 3rd, and reported that he'd heard a gunshot and seen a possible suicide in the Mesquite Dunes complex near Stove Pipe Wells. Griggs radioed for assistance and was soon joined by three other rangers and a CHP officer. They found the victim on the tallest sand dune in the complex, approximately two miles from the Mesquite Dunes parking lot. He appeared to have suffered a self-inflicted gunshot to the head. A .45 caliber handgun was found next to him. The man was still breathing but was unresponsive when rangers first arrived on scene; they began treating his injuries and placed him on high flow oxygen by non-re-breather mask. He went into respiratory arrest, then, a few minutes later, cardiac arrest. The rangers conducted CPR for about 15 minutes before lifesaving measures were terminated based on existing protocols. The Inyo County Sheriff's Office was notified and took the lead in the subsequent investigation. A suicide note was found in the victim's pocket. He was identified as a 23-year-old man from Buena Park, California. [Brent Pennington, Chief Ranger]

OTHER NEWS

The following stories are among those in today's edition of InsideNPS. To see the full text, including images, NPS employees should go to the InsideNPS home page ( HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index" http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index). Non-NPS employees can see most of them on the NPS Digest page ( HYPERLINK "http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/" http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/):

The White House - President Obama has directed that all United States flags be lowered to half staff from now until sunset on January 14th in remembrance of those who were killed in the shooting incident in Tucson on Saturday.

Park Facility Management Division - The National Park Service and its partners have received nearly $18 million in Federal Transit Administration funding through this year's Transit in Parks program awards.

Director's Office - Director Jarvis has issued a memorandum entitled “Improvements to NPS.gov - Park/Program Assistance Needed.” The full text of the memo is provided.

Office of Legislative and Congressional Affairs - This week's update on past and upcoming hearings and the status of legislation pertinent to the NPS. Included in today's summary are several bills that were signed into law by President Obama just before the Christmas holiday.

Midwest Region - After serving in the position in an acting capacity since mid-December, Pete Swisher will become superintendent at the park on a permanent basis on February 27th.

Natural Resource Stewardship and Science - Jerry M. Mitchell, chief of the Service's Biological Resource Management Division, will retire on February 1st after 36 years of service. Photo.

* * * *

Prepared by the Division of Law Enforcement, Security and Emergency Services, Washington Office, with the support of the Office of the Chief Information Officer. Edited by Bill Halainen ( HYPERLINK "mailto:Bill_Halainen@nps.gov" Bill_Halainen@nps.gov).

--- ### ---