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NATIONAL PARK SERVICE MORNING REPORT Friday, May 27, 2011 INCIDENTS Glacier NP Overdue Hiker Found By Rangers The park was contacted by the wife of an overdue hiker on Wednesday morning. R.L., 59, was issued his backcountry permit on May 10th and according to his permit would be hiking in remote sections of Glacier's North Fork and exiting on May 20th. R.L. and his wife had agreed that she was to contact the park if he was not back by May 25th. R.L.'s ambitious itinerary began at the Polebridge Ranger Station and headed to Bowman Lake, then ran from Bowman Lake to Brown's Pass, Hole-in-the-Wall, over Boulder Pass, past Kintla Lake and out the Inside North Fork Road to Big Prairie. Most of these areas are in still in winter condition with extreme hazards. Due to an impending change in weather expected on Thursday, rangers contracted Minute Man Aviation to fly R.L.'s route. From the helicopter, rangers spotted tracks in the snow going over Boulder Pass that were consistent with human travel. In the afternoon R.L. was spotted near Upper Kintla Lake waving his red jacket at the helicopter. Rangers retrieved him and brought him out of the backcountry, uninjured but very tired. R.L. has taken many winter snowshoeing trips in Glacier and carries a very heavy pack, up to 100 pounds. Although he has taken many winter trips, his permits are extremely ambitious, long in duration and are not recommended by the Park Service. “This is not the first time that R.L. has been reported overdue,” said IC Gary Moses. “We are very glad for the successful resolution of the search and that Mr. R.L. was uninjured. While he nearly completed his intended trip, the number of days he was overdue, the route itself through extensive avalanche terrain, the approaching weather front, and his history prompted our immediate response upon notification from his wife.” [Ellen Blickhan, Public Affairs Officer] Denali NP&P Two More Climbers Killed On Mt. McKinley A fatal climbing fall at Denali Pass on Mt. McKinley took the lives of two mountaineers late Wednesday night. Two other members of the climbing team were flown to area hospitals with critical injuries early yesterday morning. Mountaineers at the 17,200-foot high camp reportedly witnessed the four-person rope team fall from Denali Pass near 18,000 feet around 11 p.m. Wednesday night. An expedition of Air National Guard pararescuemen from the 212th Rescue Squadron responded and confirmed that two of the four had died in the fall. The other two patients were placed in rescue litters and lowered to the 17,200-foot high camp for emergency medical treatment - one was responsive and in stable condition with a broken leg and head injury but the other was non-responsive and suffering from labored breathing. The Air National Guard medics at high camp worked throughout the night to maintain his airway. Early yesterday morning, the park's high altitude A-Star B3 helicopter evacuated each climber separately. They were flown to the 7,200-foot Kahiltna Basecamp to two awaiting LifeMed air ambulances. Details on the cause of the fall are unknown. Weather at the time of the accident was clear with relatively calm winds. The four-person rope team was beginning the traverse from Denali Pass to the 17,200-foot camp along a 45-degree slope of very hard, windblown snowpack. This fall occurred in the same vicinity as the fatal fall of an unroped Italian climber on May 16th. Names of the climbers involved in the fatal accident are being withheld pending notification of family and friends. [Maureen McLaughlin, Information Officer] Buffalo NR Search Underway For Missing Swimmer Early on the evening of Tuesday, May 24th, rangers received a report that a swimmer had been swept downstream on the Buffalo River at Blue Hole. Although the river was at flood stage, flowing at about 3400 cubic feet per second, two men entered the river and swam across it to explore John Eddings Cave. One of the men was able to make it back okay, but the other, reportedly not a strong swimmer, was swept downstream for several hundred yards and was last seen where the river turned at a bend. A young woman who was on shore reported that she ran along the bank parallel to him and that he eventually stopped swimming and was swept around the bend. Personnel from the park SAR team and the Newton County Sheriff's Office SAR team joined family and friends in a hasty search of the area on both land and water. The search was suspended around midnight due to storms. On Wednesday, thirteen local agencies continued the search, including many volunteer fire departments, the Arkansas Game and Fish dive team, several swiftwater rescue teams from surrounding counties, and an Arkansas State Police helicopter. Sonar technology was also used. The search continued yesterday under a unified command comprised of the National Park Service and the Newton County Arkansas Sheriff's Office. [Karen L Bradford, Law Enforcement Specialist] Mammoth Cave NP Two Contract Workers Injured In Construction Accident On the afternoon of April 27th, rangers received a report of an accident that had taken place at the new visitor center construction site. A truck that had been pumping concrete at the site using a retractable boom had shifted to one side when one of its outrigger stabilizers broke through a support beam and the boom suddenly dropped down and struck two workers who were busy spreading the concrete. Rangers Jonathon Bledsoe and Kelly Brownson responded to the call and began initial treatment of the victims, scene size-up, and evacuation plans. Additional assistance was provided by many members of the park's interpretive staff who helped in treating the injured workers and transporting them out of the accident scene. One was transported by ambulance by Edmonson County EMS; the other appeared to have suffered more serious injuries and was flown to Vanderbilt Hospital in Nashville by an Air Evac helicopter. The worksite was immediately shutdown and secured until an investigation into the accident could be completed. Both workers were released from the hospital the next day with assorted cuts and bruises but no serious injuries. [Brad McDougal, Acting Chief Ranger] Lake Roosevelt NRA Victims Of Apparent Double Suicide Found In Park The Colville Police Department received a call regarding a possible endangered juvenile late on the afternoon of Tuesday, April 26th. The caller, who said she was the girl's mother, reported that she'd left with an adult and that she was concerned for her safety. The two had reportedly left in a red Firebird. A rifle and a pistol were also reported to be missing from the house. An investigation was begun and the park was notified of the overdue and possibly endangered child the next day. The vehicle and their bodies were found inside the park through a cell phone trace around noon on Thursday, April 28th. The deaths were by gunshot and appeared to have been a double suicide. The investigation continues and is being conducted jointly by the Stevens County Sheriff's Office and Colville Police Department. The National Park Service is supporting with crime scene protection and other resources. Ranger Beth Lariviere is IC. [Marty Huseman, Chief Ranger] Great Smoky Mountains NP Searchers Find Body Of Missing Man The body of a missing Florida man was found by searchers on Tuesday evening. The 58-year-old man's SUV had been parked for nearly a week in a pullout along Newfound Gap Road. The pullout, about a half mile from Smokemont Campground, serves no trailheads, so vehicles would not normally be there overnight. Rangers checked on the plate several times during the week, but no wanted notices were found from any agencies and there were no suspicious signs around the vehicle. On Monday night, rangers were finally able to locate family members, at which point they found that the man was missing. A search dog from the North Carolina Search and Rescue Dog Association was brought in and found the man's body in a steep, thickly wooded location about 250 yards from the vehicle. Investigators found a handgun at the scene, but no evidence of foul play. The Swain County Medical Examiner's Office has determined the cause of death to be from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. [Nancy Gray, Public Affairs Officer] Gila Cliff Dwellings NM Park Reopens Following Closure Due To Miller Fire The park will reopen today following a three week closure due to the Miller Fire on the surrounding Gila National Forest. While the fire burned through both units of the monument, hard work by staff and firefighters, which included installing sprinkler systems in Cliff Dweller Canyon, protective wraps on exposed wood, and additional fuels removal around several sites, including the Cliff Dwellings and TJ Site, prevented any damage except the lower section of the down trail, which suffered severe fire damage. Four older Forest Service modular structures and the middle fork well house were destroyed when the fire burned through the administrative area on Monday, May 9th. A strong presence of structural fire trucks, sprinkler systems and firefighters prevented the fire from reaching any housing units, the visitor center, or the trailhead contact station and the shop areas. The Miller Fire was nearing 87,000 acres on Thursday, May 26th, but at 60% containment it has slowed its advance except in several small areas on the north and west sides. Most trails in the Gila Valley remain closed, but all four campgrounds have reopened, though the entire Lower Scorpion Campground was lightly burned over. [Steve Riley, Superintendent] 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/): Servicewide Training and Conference Calendar - A compilation of upcoming training courses and conferences across the nation, plus online training. The following have been added to this week's calendar - a new training offering at FLETC and an extension of the application deadline for a special park uses training class in Albuquerque. * * * * Prepared by the Division of Law Enforcement, Security and Emergency Services, Washington Office, with the support of the Office of Communications and the Office of the Chief Information Officer. Edited by Bill Halainen ( HYPERLINK "mailto:Bill_Halainen@nps.gov" Bill_Halainen@nps.gov). --- ### --- |